Featuring the band's most impressive and diverse songs to date.

Third album by Kentucky rockers Black Stone Cherry sees the band freshen things up a little. Recording the album away from the comfort of their own native south, thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, provided the focus required to deliver an album with some genuine surprises whilst retaining the core Black Stone Cherry identity.

Using a different producer in Howard Benson could well have signalled a move to a smoother more homogenised sound, and whilst there is an undoubted commercial edge on songs like the soaring ballad 'Won't Let Go', complete with Benson approved backing vocals, and 'Let It Roll' or 'Stay', there's a tougher more grunge orientated sound permeating much of the heavier material. 'Killing Floor' has more than a passing Alice in Chains influence with its tuned to B guitar riff, and 'Such A Shame' romps along with the usual Black Stone Cherry vigour. 'Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea' is the band's most mature and well-rounded effort to date, featuring a host of diverse songs. 'Blame It On The Boom Boom' is a sing along anthem that could just be a hit, such is it's crossover appeal, and the cover of Marshall Tucker's 'Can't You See' fits effortlessly into the Black Stone Cherry repertoire. Of the more upbeat material 'Change' gallops along with a nod toward 'Folklore and Superstition' whilst the retro 'Let Me See You Shake' is classic southern hard rock par excellence.

Perhaps not as instant as Black Stone Cherry's other two albums, and with an eclecticism that may initially not strike a chord, this album is well worth sticking with as it features the band's most impressive and diverse songs to date.

Mike Newdeck