Blues Pills - Blues Pills

When Blues Pills first came about it was a refreshing, very accessible take on the done-to-death blues rock template. With the resurgence of both stoner and occult rock, Blues Pills offered a simpler route without any of the ridiculous satanic pomp and edgy marijuana references. When Bliss was released in 2012, I fell in love with the band's dusty, authentic rock and roll music. Blues Pills inevitably got signed to a big label, and it all went downhill from there.

This album has been out for two years and I haven't been able to bring myself to write about it because of how disappointing it is. I've tried and tried and tried, and now I finally give up and present this negative review. It is as if the band have had all the life and soul sucked out of them. Sure, better production value is to be expected with a big budget debut, but any magic that the band had previously has well and truly been washed away in the studio polish. Most tragically, even the vocals, once crackling with bluesy lust, energy and fever, are now flat, compressed and devoid of any real emotion or interest. Having several tracks from Bliss re-recorded here does nothing but cement this fact. This debut is nothing more than a 10-tracked, convenient 40-minuter designed to shift units. Bitterly, bitterly disappointing.

How to go from alternative music's new hope to boring dad-rock 101, courtesy of Nuclear Blast.

Blues Pills - Bliss

Boy am I glad I bought this cheeky little 10" when I did (edit: I've now traded it for a copy of Swans' Filth). Due to Blues Pills' ever-blossoming popularity this original 4-track EP is now worth a bloody fortune (for a 10"). The difference between Blues Pills and a gazillion other "revival", "retro" or (dare I say it) "occult rock" acts (that phrase makes me physically sick) is that when Blues Pills first showed up on my radar they were the only ones who seemed even remotely genuine and weren't just jocking a trend of female-fronted slightly-heavy rock bands that had songs about the devil. Because y'know, that's edgy as fuck, amirite?

I don't want to sound like a hipster but the more popular Blues Pills get the less I like them - just check out the super polished sheen on their new record. Bliss though, is a rougher, more intimate recording of true rock music bursting with passion, soul and well, songs about the devil. Bliss balances the right amounts of psychedelic without becoming self-indulgent, and balances the right amount of pop digestibility, without having the songs become too predictable or boring. 

As much as I like to laugh at people with flowers in their hair who think we're still in the sixties, this record is fucking fantastic. It makes me wanna smoke a bunch of weed and drive a convertible through the fucking desert. Play it!