Hailing from the Netherlands and formed back in 2007, DeWolff have made one hell of a name for themselves in their home land. With five albums to their name, all of which have charted, they’ve played the Paradiso in Amsterdam, rocked the mainstage at PinkPop, awed 30,000 fans at Lowlands festival, yet more at Sziget and supported acts such as The Black Keys, Blues Pills and Deep Purple, earning the latter’s Roger Glover as a fan in the process. Now signed to the mighty Mascot label, DeWolff are set to replicate their home and success on the international stage with ‘Thrust’, an aptly titled record jammed with eleven suitably electrifying tracks.
Kicking off with Robin Piso’s arpeggiated keys, ‘Big talk’, the band’s stinging riposte to Geert Wilders (the “Dutch Trump”) gets the album off to a flying start. It’s immediately easy to see why Deep Purple might be impressed by a band who take their initial cues from the psychedelia-soaked hard rock of the seventies and amp it up for a modern audience and it’s the fact that DeWolff so impressively run with their influences and make them their own that hook you in from the start. There’s a wonderfully lysergic groove underpinning this vital opening track, and if, like me, you’re discovering DeWolff for the first time, it’s a hell of an introduction. Cut in the band’s own studio (which is stuffed full of analogue equipment), it’s apparent from the off that this is not a record that has been Pro-Tooled into sterility, and the sound has a richness and warmth that is most welcome in today’s increasingly identikit society. Emerging with a wild-fire riff, the electrifying ‘California burning’ shows that the band are unafraid to tackle social issues, with its commentary on the increasing tendency of people to run their mouths at every opportunity. The subject matter may be timely, but it’s the urgency of the riffs and the power of the chorus that really hit home, recalling the swinging might of the Rival Sons in the process. The pace is slowed for the reflective ‘Once in a blue moon’, a track that sounds somewhat like Procul Harum covering Neil Young, the sweetness of the organ perfectly paired against the overdriven grit of the lead guitar work. With a sweeping, southern sound ‘double crossing man’ edges into Allman brothers territory with its honeyed vocals and soulful edge and it’s easy to imagine this becoming a live highlight when the band take the album out on the road. The first half comes to an end with the funky ‘tombstone child’ which has such a taut groove you almost expect Glenn Hughes to appear alongside the band (and what a pairing that would be). With a chorus to die for, it’s easy to see why the band have had such success in the charts at home, and if this doesn’t break into people’s consciousness, nothing will!
Kicking off the second half, ‘Deceit and woo’ combines a bristling anger at the world’s political direction with a tough, bass-heavy groove and a soulful vocal, underscoring the notion that heavy themes don’t always have to be combined with heavy music to have an impact. That said, the latter half of the song explodes into a truly satisfying freeform jam that has the potentially to blow the band’s live show wide open and, on record, they get the balance exactly right between wide-eyed sonic exploration and self-indulgence, not allowing the track to get away from them in the heat of the moment. Another slower moment awaits at the other side in the form of the lovely, bluesy ‘freeway flight’, another track with an Allman Brothers vibe to it. Next up, the band tackle the subject of gambling with ‘tragedy? Not today’, a song that pairs thematic weight with a bright, breezy melody and superlative musicianship in a manner that is instantly beguiling. The slinky ‘sometimes’ has a soulful feel that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Beth Hart record, Pablo’s subtly distorted vocal edging into a hazy cloud of reverb and half whispered harmonies. That swinging, soulful feel takes a bluesy turn on ‘swain’, a track so good and so full of life, it’s easy to imagine it slotting directly onto the Blues Brothers album and feeling totally at home. The album comes to an end, and far too soon, with the reflective, and rather lovely ‘outta step and ill at ease’, a satisfyingly emotional conclusion to an album unafraid to share its deepest thoughts with its audience.
‘Thrust’, in many ways, feels like a record out of time. That’s not to say that it feels dated, rather that it feels timeless. Like listening to ‘Live at the Fillmore East’, ‘harvest’ or ‘déjà vu’’, it’s a record that reveals its charms slowly and which repays multiple listens many times over. Varied, intelligent and exquisitely played, ‘thrust’ is a fantastic record and it’s hard to imagine it ever wearing out its welcome such is the joy and passion with which the band play. Highly recommended, ‘thrust’ is a record of such quality that it truly deserves to see DeWolff blaze a global trail – check it out. 9
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