Album Review: These Wicked Rivers – Force of Nature

These Wicked Rivers aren’t an unfamiliar name by any means. Having been knocking around for the best part of ten years and featuring on pretty much every rock festival in the UK in the last few years, they’re a name I know of but have never had the chance to check out before now. And after one listen of their second album, Force of Nature, it’s left me with one simple question: why did I leave it so long?

Charging straight out of the gate with the title track, it’s the Derby quintet setting out their stall for the following nine tracks. It’s a blistering, raucous blues-fuelled romp to the finish line from the minute you hit play with just the odd occasion for you to catch your breath. Essentially, if you stripped out the stoner elements from Clutch, upped the bluesy side of them and they were British, you’ve got These Wicked Rivers. And it helps that vocalist John Hartwell sounds eerily like Neil Fallon (maybe it’s a beard thing).

Once the wailing guitars of “Force of Nature” come to their finale, “The Family” takes things in a Southern direction with whisky-soaked gritty and grizzled vocals puncturing through the bright tones. Meanwhile “Testify” applies some grimy, grungier tones and matches the slower, mid-pace songs you’d expect from that genre but still sounding exactly like These Wicked Rivers. Whilst it may be a break-neck pace for most of the album, they know how to drop a gear and even in these moments, they’re a stellar band. “When the War is Worn” goes full-on blues, ion and fragility mingling with each other in perfect harmony without turning saccharine. Elsewhere, the acoustic-powered “Just to Be a Man” would be a perfect fit for a moody modern-made Western film. And it’s a return of the acoustics on closing number “Lonely Road”. The vocals are broader and the most straightforward of the album, the simplicity working well with the stripped-back melody, reflecting the loneliness of the title and while there’s some bigger soundscapes as it heads into the finale, it’s more about setting the mood as it’s tinged with regret.

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However, it’s the marriage of both moods in “Don’t Pray For Me” where the album shines brightest. Nestled away at the back of the album is an absolute show-stopper of a tune. Serving as the longest track of the album at just a smidge over five and half minutes, the intro of organ and vocals which are almost spoken before understated guitars slowly . But they slowly ramp up the intensity, drowning in bluesy tones and interweave with each other with grace. Lyrically, it’s about the good and bad in everyone and the acceptance of the self. The band goes hell for leather as they approach the crescendo but it’s the slow build up to it that makes it a natural rise rather than whiplash-inducing. Whilst there’s been so much love and care put into each and every track on the album, there’s just something more here as if they’ve pulled from the same bit of magic that gave us “Stairway to Heaven”, “November Rain” or Alter Bridge’s “Blackbird”.

This is the kind of rock you should be playing loud enough from your speakers that it rattles your fillings as you drink whisky like it’s going out of fashion. It’s music that you know will hit even harder in a live setting and how they’ll manage to not play the entire thing in order to allow the debut album to get a look-in is anyone’s guess. It’s big and bombastic rock which is perfect at any time slot at a festival, in a massive venue or a tiny rock club where the paint is peeling off the walls, your shoes stick to the floor and the smell of alcohol burns your nostrils.

With five excellent musicians all pulling in the same direction for a common goal, you can tell when listening that this isn’t simply a band for them, it’s a mission, it’s a necessity. They’re compelled to do this. You can hear the chemistry in the performances that this isn’t a group who are together because of common interests. There’s real camaraderie to be found on this record as they all pull their weight equally.

Force of Nature isn’t just a great album. It’s an inspirational one – not just for musicians but for me. It’s a reminder of why I keep doing this. It might be bluesy, it might be classic rock; the kind the UK has been churning out now for the best part of a decade but These Wicked Rivers have managed to find their own identity which sets them apart from the rest of the pack. And if this is what their second album has managed to achieve, if they keep this momentum up, just think where that third one will land. And to reiterate: why did I leave it so long to listen to them?

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Header image by Rob Blackham

Force of Nature is released on 1st March

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