Artist: BLACK STAR RIDERS [THIN LIZZY]
Album: ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE (CD)

Year: 2013
Media type: CD

"Thin Lizzy is a known situation, but with Black Star Riders we're moving into uncharted territory and that's pretty damn exciting. I'm having more fun playing right now than I have in years."  Scott Gorham  

"Black Star Riders allows us to move forward with passion and integrity, but in saying that it was always going to be a continuation of some kind. You can't take the Thin Lizzy out of Scott Gorham - and why the hell would you want to?" Ricky Warwick 

Sometimes the head-rush induced by primal rock 'n' roll can't be contained. "All Hell Breaks Loose", the title track of Black Star Riders' storming debut album, is a case in point. "Alright Scotty!" roars frontman Ricky Warwick, teeing up a certain Mr. Gorham's classy lead guitar salvo. "I love that song starting the album", laughs Warwick. "The Lizzy faithful are going to hear Scott's solo and think, 'Fantastic! Everything's going to be okay.'"  

Black Star Riders is a brand new band, then, but also one respectful of the past. Together with bandmates Marco Mendoza and Damon Johnson, Gorham and Warwick have of course toured in various configurations of Thin Lizzy in recent years. But while Gorham - the late Phil Lynott's longest serving guitar foil - and original Lizzy drummer Brian Downey had every right to lead such a charge, even they felt somewhat conflicted when talked turned to the recording of a new Thin Lizzy album.  

"Everybody laid their cards on the table, and ultimately we didn't feel comfortable with it", says Gorham. "This record did start out as a Lizzy album, but then we got to thinking about what that would mean in real terms, and it wouldn't have been fair to Phil."  

Later, Brian Downey and Lizzy keyboardist Darren Wharton declined to be involved in the new project, this an amicable decision sparked by their realisation of just how much subsequent touring would be required. It was now doubly clear that a new band name was essential, and with a little help from the William Burroughs cut-up technique favoured by David Bowie, Ricky Warwick was on it.  

"Basically, I watched all these old Westerns that I like and wrote down titles and bits of dialogue", he says. "Then I cut them all up and threw them on the floor. The 'Black Star' bit came from the film Tombstone, and when that landed beside the word 'Riders' I thought, 'Bingo! That's it.' The name suits the music and the music suits the name, I think. It's got that edgy, band-as-gang thing." 

All Hell Breaks Loose was recorded in Los Angeles with producer Kevin Shirley (Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith) at the helm. Working at a rapid pace, the band nailed twelve songs in twelve days. "Jimmy De Grasso had played drums in Alice Cooper's band alongside Damon",  says Scott Gorham of BSR's newest recruit. "First day of rehearsal I saw what all the fuss was about. You need Jimmy to lay something down? Bang! It's there." 

Listening to the album, it's clear that Black Star Riders are the kind of hard rock band that won't be constrained or typecast. The magnificent guitar riffs on "Hey Judas" really swing; "Someday Salvation" is a thing of Lizzy-channeling-Van-Morrison splendour, "Before The War" packs a Clash-like urgency, and Dubliner Patrick D'arcy's Irish whistles, uilleann pipes and bodhran bring a magical Celtic lilt to 'Kingdom Of The Lost", a song that seems mindful of Thin Lizzy's 1979 classic, Black Rose: A Rock Legend.  

Though County Down, Northern Ireland's Ricky Warwick can now be his own man singing his own lyrics again, moreover, he's obviously in touch with the renegades, wild romantics, saints, and sinners that people Phil Lynott's finest songs. "I've studied Phil's phrasing and lyrics deeply", says BSR's frontman. "I still think of him every day, and I'm sure something of Phil has rubbed off."

Together with their able Black Star Riders bandmates, they've made a debut album to be proud of in All Hell Breaks Loose, and Scott Gorham, for one, thinks the late, great Phil Lynott would be down with the programme. 

"Phil would dig it", says the guitarist. "In fact, I think he'd like to be in the band." 

TRACKLIST CD:

1.. All Hell Breaks Loose 
2. Bound For Glory 
3. Kingdom Of The Lost 
4. Bloodshot 
5. Kissin’ The Ground 
6. Hey Judas 
7. Hoodoo Voodoo 
8. Valley Of The Stones 
9. Someday Salvation 
10. Before The War 
11. Blues Ain't So Bad  

LINE-UP:

Ricky Warwick - Vocals
Scott Gorham - Guitar
Damon Johnson - Guitar
Marco Mendoza - Bass
Jimmy DeGrasso – Drums