White Miles – The Duel (Long Branch Records/SPV)

English:CD-review
  Van Muylem    27 maart 2016

I saw them as warming up band for John Garcia in Ghent, it was hot and they played like on fire so I absolutely wanted to review their next album! Well, here it is!


Sickly Nerves has that stoner rock feeling, with great and thrilling vocals. The song sounds fat, greasy and sexy. It’s clear that this duo (vocals/guitar and drums) knows how to please us with their special sound! In The Mirror was written in their starting up year, they played it a lot on stage the years after that and worked had to find perfection and asked Micko Larkin (Courtney Love/Hole) to help them out as second guitar player. Sound wise it comes close to what I heard during their gig. The guitars are simply heavenly and keep you rocking! The Chorus is pretty catchy. Crazy Horse might be a referral to France; you must know that place, right? Or is it rather some Neil Young? Fact is that this one rocks. The vocals get some special effect, but that doesn’t hide the fact that they still sound raw, brutal and sexy!

Insane to the Bone is a groovy track, with a mix of stoner rock and some blues. You can also hear Jodi on vocals. A Good Pennyworth gets close to the stoner rock/blues version of PJ Harvey. It sounds pretty catchy and some cool twists in the sound. Coke on a Jetplane is a cool acoustic track, where we hear our duo sing together. It sounds very pure and powerful, with a country & western touch. A(n) Garde is one of the heaviest tracks on the album, clearly influenced by stoner rock. It feels like the perfect live track: fueled, catchy and ready to conquer your heart and soul! Heid is led by Lofi on vocals: it feels a bit like a Iggy Pop track. You have the storytelling, the low downs, and the outburst. Simply said: it has variety and a fat sound! With You don’t know him we get more of a spoken work, told by Lofi. River of Gold is pretty catchy, with cool hooks and outburst. It’s simply a great song that sticks into your head! As last track we unveil Keep your trippin’ Wild could have been one of the tracks on Iggy Pop’sPost Pop Depression as a perfect duet between Iggy and Medina. Feel the stoner rock sound, feel the heat! Well: it is the perfect ending for a great album that got me hooked!

I hope to see them again on stage as I recently missed them when they toured together with Eagles of Deathmetal, due to certain things happening …