Year: 2020
Total Time: 53:25
Label: Nuclear Blast
After the rather sudden (even though we saw it coming) end of MOTORHEAD almost 5 years ago, it was more than logical that the axeman of the band, the riff machine called Phil Campbell, would move on to the next chapters of his career. At these hard times we live in, instead of playing safe and join a well-known band to secure the future, he preferred to do once again what Lemmy taught us all and do what he wanted to do and start all over again. That being the case, PHIL CAMPBELL’s ALL STARR BAND was born, a band that played cover songs at festivals, mostly MOTORHEAD obviously, and then, when the time was right with the positive feedback from fans following them, they took the more appropriate name for the situation PHIL CAMPBELL AND THE BASTARD SONS, released their first album in 2018 and now in the climax of the pandemic, the second one with the highly suitable title “We’re The Bastards”.
For those of you who are still not familiar with who are these bastards who accompany Phil in his new music journey, they are his three sons, Dane, Todd and Dylan, with their close friend Neil Starr (also on ATTACK!ATTACK!) on vocals completing this family union.
So, this new album, which was recorded in isolation in their birthplace of Wales, is naturally the continuation of their first effort two years ago. Many would expect (count me in) that they would choose the easy path of “copying” the sound of MOTORHEAD in order to attract the nostalgic fans who still can’t accept that the legendary band is over forever but that’s not so much the case here. Even though it is more than natural that the MOTORHEAD references are always in the air both musically and in the general attitude, you can say from the first minutes that this is a whole new band that came here to rock hard and win the fans with their material and hard work. Their music has a little bit of everything. The base is of course the traditional hard rock, but after that you’ll get some rhythm n blues here, a little bit of punk over there, some American “hillbilly” country rock and the work is done! Obviously I found 2 songs that I couldn’t help myself but listen to them and think how good they would sound with Lemmy in a future MOTORHEAD album that never came out, I am talking about “Son Of A Gun” and “Animals”, there is this 2 minute long (or short) “Destroyed” with Harley Flanagan from CRO-MAGS on the backing vocals reminding me of “R.A.M.O.N.E.S.” but after that we get the thunderous tile track which opens the album, the more poser “Promises Are Poison”, “Bite My Tongue”, “Keep Your Jacket On”, the “country hillbilly metal” “Born To Roam” and “Desert Song” while for me “Waves”, is a great track that closes the album more atmospherically and melodic somewhat outside the main style of the band, but at the same time it is so fitting that you can’t just let it pass by. It’s interesting to mention that the production was done by Todd Campbell in his personal studio while the final mixing and mastering was done by Soren Anderson (GLENN HUGHES/ THE DEAD DAISIES/ THE ANSWER) so the result is string and heavy as it should be.
Overall, the second effort from the Campbell family is proves that nothing is just a lucky find after all. Obviously the heavy name and the career of father Phil helps big time to get the attention of the press and fans, but another thing worth mentioning is that most of the work here was done by the young talented guys, a fact that proves that there is a bright future ahead and when the circumstances allow it again, we will get the chance to grab a beer and enjoy them on their natural environment, meaning up on stage again. All fans of the traditional hard sound should check this out fast.
Rating:8/10
Editor: Antonis Livanios
Related Link: PHIL CAMPBELL AND THE BASTARD SONS – Facebook Page
