Black Stone Cherry

Album Title: Magic Mountain
Record Label: Roadrunner
Review by Sal Serio
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Black Stone Cherry - Magic Mountain

Kentucky: the birthplace of good bourbon, Hunter S. Thompson, and Black Stone Cherry. Coincidence? I’m not so sure! There’s a very druggy commonality to many of the themes on ‘Magic Mountain’. The song titles “Peace Pipe”, “Me And Mary Jane”, “Blow My Mind”, and “Fiesta del Fuego” should clue you right in to my meaning.

Heady references aside, my initial draw to this record is the really loud and up-front mix. The guitars just reach out and grab me by the short hairs. While the compositions still maintain a melodic sensibility conducive to widespread accessibility, “Magic Mountain” displays equally as much cocky aggro-rock swagger.

This is definitely one I can recommend to fans of current rock as well as classic rock, with ample nods to Mountain, or Grand Funk Railroad, song structures. Southern rock rears its rowdy head often, as evidenced by the Blackfoot-like instrumental break on “Me And Mary Jane”, and the hearkening to the Skynyrd ballad recipe on “Sometimes”. I wouldn’t be surprised if 35 years from now, Black Stone Cherry is still rocking the festival circuit and sounding as classic as they do right now. [BSC plays Rock USA in Oshkosh, Friday, July 18]

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