From Granite City comes something hewn from the rock of the past
First things first. America: your place names rule. Writing this in a non-descript town just outside Birmingham is all very well (we gave the world Black Sabbath, so yeah, in your face America…..) but how much cooler would it all be if we were in Granite City, Illinois?
That’s the home of The Judge, and what we have here is their debut record. And, at the severe risk of blowing Birmingham’s trumpet, then it would probably be fair to say the four piece have heard of the town.
It’d also probably be fair to say that they know the feeling of born out of time. MV knows what it’s like to have been too young to see the best bands at their best. We remain in awe of those that saw Led Zep, Sabbath at their peak, Thin Lizzy with Phil and myriad others. What we haven’t yet to be able to do is to put that love down onto a collection of songs that are the definition of classic.
Lucky then, that The Judge have done exactly that.
There is a fuzzed up, glorious quality about opener “The Watcher” that immediately makes you sit up and take notice. Dylan Jarrett, who along with his friend Tyler Anderson formed the band back in 2010, concocts a wonderful opening salvo to begin a song that twists and turns though rock, heavy rock and a little bit of blues – this is Chicago after all – and you imagine that all this would sound incredible live.
Not least because Tyler Swope (seriously – do these names need to get any better?) is a brilliant singer for this type of thing, possessing a warm, rich voice that gives the songs the timeless quality that no doubt the impossibly young foursome were aiming for.
“Heepster” enjoys what the opener did so much that it basically does it again and the early Sabbath-isms really come out for “Evil Woman” which is slower, bluesier, and brings with it a massive old groove.
Originally a three-piece instrumental band before settling on Swope, there are great long musical passages throughout. Indeed, it’s not unreasonable to suggest that given half the chance The Judge would turn into the Grateful Dead and jam to their hearts content. “Tarturus” is one such effort, and “Suite Of Jam” follow It down a similarly instrumental path.
In between all this, there are a number of surprises. “Movin’ And Groovin’” is fine fun, while “Planet Doom” makes good on the psychedelica that they’ve hinted at throughout and “Desire” is not far from being the best thing here, bringing with the kind of mighty swing that Mountain have managed these days.
There’s even a stab at what appears to be a NWOBHM riff at the start of “Rock Kickin’ Blues” which provides a magnificent end to a record that is clearly a labour of love for everyone involved.
Granite City clearly knows its rock.
Rating 9/10
