REVIEW: Doomsday Outlaw – Suffer More (Album)

 

Founded in September 2012, Doomsday Outlaw are from Derby, England and describe themselves as a Rock/Metal group. Their line-up is: Phil Poole on vocals, Steve Broughton and Gavin Mills on guitars, Indy on bass and John ‘Ironfoot’ Willis on drums. This is their 3rd album.

There is a fair amount of Southern Boogie and groove as Walk On Water gets underway. A dirty Rock’n’Roll stomper with a big classic sound. As an unrushed chunk of power, it makes its way onward without much fanfare, although it holds few surprises this song simply states what Doomsday Outlaw are about: good songs and keeping the ostentatious attitude to the minimum. Fallback has its own groove also but more in the way of Alter Bridge but without the overblown attitude – a sturdily built piece of Rock with a catchy chorus and again a soulful solo which doesn’t take the song over. The delicacy of Driftwood changes the complexion of the album: a simple and lilting acoustic guitar minor key refrain floating over the sound of waves. The segues perfectly into All That I Have which uses quintessential Southern Boogie stomp and grace – a feel good, sing out loud song. Doomsday Outlaw have pretty much captured the classic sounds of several 70’s big name groups and without shame reproduced it for their own take on the genre to the point that it could be included in a compilation of tunes and no-one would know the difference. Big on the harmonica and slide guitar, the song relies more on having great melodies than anything else. The title track of the album Suffer More is more of a moody and dark affair as the title suggests and has expanded instrumentation – a string ensemble adds the necessary emotion. This is quite an exceptional piece with the all out Rocking held in check until the chorus comes around and has more in common with a more modern attitude. Compare this with Pandemonium as it makes up for the down tempo Rock by pulling out all the stops and redressing the balance towards delivering a song of less than sixty seconds in duration – rocket fuelled and in your face! Doomsday Outlaw love the swagger and groove though and after the breakneck action comes a more sedate piece of Heavy Rock in the form of I’ve Been Found with a Hammond Organ adding the ‘hallelujah’ to proceedings giving the lowdown and dirty a vital depth. Although when Derby rockers resort to mixing in Rattlesnake Rock’n’Roll, as with Bring You Pain, things liven up even though proceedings have a commercial edge – inevitable but this stuff shakes and gets things moving. And so it goes with Blues For A Phantom Limb as the banjo strikes up and you get a taste of Blackfoot straight between the eyes: meaty riffs and slide guitar are rampant on this tune. It Is a shame there isn’t more of this on the album as the quintet obviously enjoy indulging their penchant for Southern Boogie (y’all!). And there’s even space for a bit of Hendrix flavoured up tempo blues with Saltwater, the Crybaby being worked skilfully into this piece along with a rather cool speed change. Standing Tall returns to the commercial side of the groups nature with an acoustic backed song which is perfectly placed within the running order for this album. The beguiling grunt that accompanies Wait Until Tomorrow changes the direction of Suffer More with a touch of Alter Bridge again – direct and to the point, there’s no messing around on this number it just stomps its unrelenting way onward majestically. And Jericho Cain has the same feel as the previous track: a snarling groove machine of a song heavy on the US Rock and Metal influences. An easy tune to get into particularly if 80s and 90s vintage is your thing. Doomsday Outlaw change the focus again towards Acoustic Rock ballad territory with Running Into You, but it makes for an easier transition between the previous and next songs. No matter how predictable it is to have a song like this it is still essential to the progression of the album. Tale Of A Broken Man leads straight from the acoustic-ness into a rocking final song (track #15) and its a return to how this album started: bucket loads of overdriven Heavy Rock strutting its stuff.

Phil Poole‘s vocals draw everything into focus: his vocals are stronger and show an immense amount of power instead of some bloke shouting at the mic. The group themselves are sturdy as ever and there is so much enjoyment and belief in what they do that you can’t help but be carried along by the album as a whole. Three albums under their belts now and there seems to be no stopping them and they certainly have the songs, attitude and a growing following. Suffer More? Should have been called ‘Rocks Harder’.

www.doomsdayoutlaw.com