Album: Pioneers
Year: 2014
Rating: 88/100
Siena Root have been one of Stockholm's best kept secrets for several years now, and after a hiatus which brought about the arrival of new vocalist Jonas Åhlen, guitarist Matte Gustafsson and organist Erik Petersson to join bassist Sam Riffer (some people are just born with it, I suppose) and drummer Love Forsberg, and the result? "Pioneers", a sprawling, hard blues/stoner jam. The main question is, how does the new look Siena Root look against the old one?
Rather good, as a matter of fact. Jonas Åhlen's delivery is reminiscent in a way of former Spiritual Beggars main man JB (also the main voice of doomers Grand Magus) and guitarist Gustafsson enjoys some serious solo trade-offs with organist Petersson in a riff laden attack that is equal parts reminiscent of the Spiritual Beggars themselves along with older heavyweights such as Deep Purple and even John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. "Root Rock Pioneers" is a jaunty, upbeat jam primarily led by the guitar and organ work, while opener "Between the Lines" sets the tone ideally for the rest of the album, and "The Way You Turn" has some incisive drumming on it. While the full length jamming of their previous efforts might have been phased out a little, there is still plenty of that to really enjoy, particularly to be found on "Root Rock Pioneers", "Keep on Climbing" and their own tribute to the Doors in the form of "In My Kitchen".
While the constant changing of the personnel in the ranks of Siena Root might have hampered them somewhat where consistency is concerned, there is no doubting that "Pioneers" works rather nicely as a stand alone album. Definitely worth your while getting hold of this as a starting place where Siena Root are concerned.
Track Listing:
- Between the Lines
- 7 Years
- Spiral Trip
- Root Rock Pioneers
- The Way You Turn
- Keep On Climbing
- Going Down
- In My Kitchen
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