Album Review: "The Heart and The Thrill" by The Battery Electric

The Heart and The Thrill

How many currently active bands can you name today that are straight up rock'n'roll?

I'm not talking about arena rock, or hard rock, or stoner rock, but just what we remember as rock'n'roll.

Jim Morrison nailed it in 1968 when he said rock'n'roll was dead. The classic three chord sound had already withered and died and in it's place came rock.

Then arena rock, then punk rock, then hard rock, acid rock, and pretty much anything else you could ever imagine.

Well, thankfully, there are a few groups around that are still out there banging out their chords and singing their wails and hail, hailing rock'n'roll.

The Battery Electric is the latest to cross my desk and I have some things to say about what they do.

e Battery Electric

The Battery Electric formed their kinetic brand of rock'n'roll out of America's favorite state, New Jersey.

The Heart and The Thrill comes right out of the hopper at about a million miles an hour and with that straight overdriven amp sound.

Real overdrive.

The guitars sound like they walked right out of Chicago in 1957. Muddy Waters would be beside himself if he'd heard this.

There's a touch of palm muting and muted string riffing, and that's the only touch of modernity on this entire record.

There are solos here and there, but never once is the fretboard lit on fire. Noisy and bluesy are how the solos go. Simple and to the point.

Perfectly placed exclamation points in this statement on rock'n'roll.

The vocals have the delicious English sneer from the British Invasion.

Drummers are often referred to as the backbone of the band, and it's very rarely more true than in The Battery Electric's case.

If there was an intersection of Bill Ward and Mitch Mitchell, this is precisely what it would sound like. Very fancy, very groovy, but holding everything together and leading the band down the winding road that is rock'n'roll.

From top to bottom, this album fires on all cylinders and never do they take a song off.

Release: 3/10/15
Genre: Rock'n'Roll
Label: Little Dickman Records
Facebook Link