SNAKECHARMER - Snakecharmer (2013)




Some people (and primarily musicians) hates the term 'SuperGroup', but there's no other word coined to define SNAKECHARMER.
Centred around classic-era Whitesnake members Micky Moody and Neil Murray, Snakecharmer also features Harry James (Thunder, Magnum), Laurie Wisefield (Wishbone Ash) and Adam Wakeman (Ozzy, Black Sabbath), with vocals being handled by former Heartland and Virginia Wolf vocalist Chris Ousey.
With Moody and Murray’s Whitesnake connections, the band toured a little while ago as Monsters Of British Rock, wisely ditching that name for the much improved Snakecharmer, and were initially largely a Whitesnake tribute act, knocking out all the best tunes from the original, and best, era of Whitesnake, before Coverdale shed that classic band in favour of big hair and over production.

Snakecharmer inevitably ended recording an album (self-titled) to be released in a few days by Frontiers Records, and let me tell you this isn't a 'tribute-like' / 'copy-cat' type: this is a Fantastic, Awesome Classic Hard Rock album full of magic and personality.
Of course you have an old Whitesnake vibe to some of the tunes here, and that's a good thing when you play bluesy Hard with this class.
Sure enough you could imagine Coverdale belting out the likes of "Turn Of The Screw", "Guilty As Charged", "Nothing To Lose" and especially the impressive "Smoking Gun".
It’s not all a ‘snake fest though. Chris Ousey’s vocal style lends itself particularly well to hard AOR, Foreigner-esque tracks like "Accident Prone" and the AOR-tastic "Stand Up".
The power ballad "Falling Leaves" has that early '80 mysterious atmosphere, and with "To The Rescue" the band goes for a Bad Company style bluesy boogie with charm, same in the the excellent "A Little Rock and Roll", one of the album’s real highlights.
Another great moment is heard in the opening cut "My Angel", combining some ol' Aerosmith guitars with a terrific melodic background instrumentation and jumpin' vocals.

Final conclusion is short. Snakecharmer’s debut is a Winner, in all aspects.
Hard blues, Classic Rock or harder melodious edged AOR fans rejoice; this is one of the albums of the year.

01 - My Angel
02 - Accident Prone
03 - To The Rescue
04 - Falling Leaves
05 - A Little Rock & Roll
06 - Turn Of The Screw
07 - Smoking Gun
08 - Stand Up
09 - Guilty As Charged
10 - Nothing To Lose
11 - Cover Me In You
12 - White Boy Blues (Euro bonus track)

CHRIS OUSEY - lead and backing vocals
MICKY MOODY - guitar, slide guitar, vocals
NEIL MURRAY - bass
LAURIE WISEFIELD - guitar, vocals
HARRY JAMES - drums, vocals
ADAM WAKEMAN - keyboards, vocals

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