Reviewed by Nigel Harris

This debut album from Northern California just squeezes into the blues category on my subjective classification of the 11 tracks, of which six are blues and five arc heavy rock! Whitccross's drummer reckons. "They sound like a Christian version of Lynyrd Skynyrd" and having opened for the R.A.W. (Resurrection Band and Whitecross) tour you get a pretty good idea where they're coming from. Subtitled 'Southern-fried Rock & Blues', they serve up a delicious bed of rock solid drums and bass with lashings of power chords topped off with some excellent lead and slide guitar. The lead guitar breaks come in serious portion sizes too! Several tracks feature wonderful blues guitar in the mould of Stevie Ray Vaughan while others are reminiscent of the Allman Brothers, plus of course the aforementioned Lynyrd Skynyrd. All the tracks bar one were penned by lead vocalist and guitar maestro Richard Morris - the one cover is Darrell Mansfield's "The Mission" which, while lacking the gravelly passion of Darrell's vocals, is a great track. Morris's vocals are a little weak on occasions and the backing vocals almost inaudible, but as a taste of what must be a great live hand this album is well worth sending for.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

Interested in reviewing music? Find out more here.