It’s been five long years since I last had the pleasure in getting acquainted with a Shaman’s Harvest record. But the good news is here – the new album ‘Rebelator’ is out on March 11th via Mascot and is preceded by the single ‘Under Your Skin’. It is an album that might never have come and not due to the fun and games we’ve all endured with Covid.
Indeed The band have endured some real hardships over the last 5 years. Singer Nathan Hunt won his battle with Throat Cancer but a leg injury that he sustained whilst working in construction a decade ago became worse and he was left with a decision whether to amputate his leg or not. Thankfully he found a doctor who replaced the joint and rebuilt the Achilles. Today he says, “I’m still recovering and probably will over the next year or so, but I’m already better off than I was before the procedure.” We won’t even mention the flood or the hurricane let alone Covid…
With their previous two albums ‘Hearts & Broken Guns’ and ‘Red Hands Black Deeds’ rating highly with The Rockpit crew, it’s always interesting to see what comes after such a long break. And here we have the lucky 7th.
We got a hint of course last year with the single ‘Bird Dog’ which here closes the album (more of that later). We open though with ‘Under Your Skin’ a thrusting mid tempo number that is immediately recognizable as Shamen’s Harvest but has an almost Shinedown-like feel as it rides a hypnotic riff and immediately sets you at ease before ‘Toe to Toe’ bursts addictively over a metallic guitar, and ‘Flatline’ lays down a heavier riff and a lighter vocal. It’s an epic opening but still feels a little restrained. You can feel the storm bruising the sky.
The brooding acoustic opened ‘Voices’ follows with a refrain that sweeps you up, and just builds, perfectly balancing light and shade. It’s a wonderful song and full of passion and fury. ‘Wildfire’ with it’s piano and dynamics is another to hook you in, and ‘Lilith’ and it’s cool slide guitar and Southern Rock vibe adds a touch of somethig a little different. It’s another that really hits the spot.
‘Mama’ is more melodic, more focused on the vocal and sports some wonderful picked acoustic flourishes and ‘Hurricane’ starts similarly low key and hypnotic but builds wonderfully till the sirens wail and an arm-waving chorus takes over (I was half expecting a song called ‘Flood’ after that one). It’s not until the heavier, darker ‘Pretty People’ which features Clint Lowery of Sevendust, that you really appreciate the scope of this album and the energy that at points just bursts and at others bubbles beneath the surface.
The album closes with the chug of guitar and another huge chorus of ‘Wishing Well’ which might just be the most commercial song here yet retains its integrity and closes with a wonderful codicil of picked guitars and vocal effects, before we come full circle to last years single ‘Bird Dog’ and its stripped desert sound and wonderful honesty. It’s the best way to close. This is heady stuff and you need to listen.
8.5/10
TRACKLISTING: 1 – Under Your Skin | 2 – Toe the Line | 3 – Flatline | 4 – Voices | 5 – Wildfire | 6 – Lilith | 7 – Mama | 8 – Hurricane | 9 – Pretty People (feat. Clint Lowery) | 10 – Wishing Well | 11 – Bird Dog
You can pre-order the album HERE