The first couple years of this decade have seen several musical attempts to “revive” the spirits of other musical eras. One that has gotten much attention is the revival of ’90s garage rock at the hands of bands like Yuck. Rival Sons have successfully revived another era – the classic rock era – with “Pressure & Time.”
“Pressure & Time” is a modern old-school rock album, managing to bring to mind the musical stylings of Led Zeppelin while eschewing the modern trappings of auto-tune and extensive studio production. The result is raw and rollicking rock music.
In making an album only 30 minutes long, with only one song running over four minutes, some may fear that the members of Rival Sons do not give themselves enough time to get the most out of each song. Listeners can abandon these fears.
Though two or three songs feel like they end before really gathering up steam, most songs are excellently and enthusiastically executed, with four songs especially standing above the rest in all out rockery.
“Young Love” explores a theme that many young men and women know all too well – the obstacles of a parent who disapproves of a relationship. The song, written from the perspective of the galvanized young man, perfectly channels the frustration and angry determination. One lyric in particular can probably resonate with many boyfriends: “Well, your daddy’s gone too far this time.”
And, while the band’s bread and butter is clearly fast and loud music, Rival Sons shows on “Only One” that it is just as comfortable and capable in soft and shadowy music. In an example of outstanding musical balance, the band shifts from soft and nimble verses to epic choruses reminiscent of Lynyrd Skynyrd.
With “Burn Down Los Angeles,” Rival Sons exhibits that its talents extend to songwriting. In the midst of guitar sounds that bring to mind revving engines, the frontman sings about the frustration of dreams that the city could not quite fulfill: “Come for revenge from my broken dreams / Didn’t come to wait tables or park limousines.”
In fact, “Burn Down Los Angeles” is probably the most cohesive song on the album, with instrumentals embodying the feel of the lyrics and placing the listener in the midst of surging L.A. traffic.
Before the album is over, however, Rival Sons again shows its musical versatility with the final song on the record, “Face of Light,” a beautiful ballad that explores the ideas of questioning one’s purpose and worth: “If I can get through tonight, I’m waking up with my wings, there’s no way I can sleep my way through a fight and like what tomorrow brings.”
In true grand finale fashion, the song builds to a majestic plateau, which sends the listener out with a bang. Not only that, but it is also on this song that the listener truly hears that the frontman has an outstanding singing voice. He can sing both delicately and with the reckless abandon of Robert Plant.
Completing this experience is the “live” feeling of the record, which sounds as though it is a good preview of the band’s live performance. If so, this music begs to be heard free of the constraints of car speakers or headphones.
Full of soaring vocals, rumbling drums and guitar riffs and solos that make throwing drumsticks into a garage door seem like a perfectly reasonable way to spend time, “Pressure & Time” is an album not to be missed by music fans of a music era gone by.
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