Eamonn McCormack - Eamonn McCormack
Irish blues rock legend Eamonn McCormack has a new single and lyric video out, and this Living Hell turned out so sinister that if it was a hurting creature, it would bleed black. Dealing with the criminogenic nature of drug prohibition and institutionalized war mongery, the song’s musical direction could make it sail on the darkest depths of post metal with ease. Opening a new record with a slow hand and lines such as “Oh is there a dark shadow on their soul / Blood dripping from their hands yeah / Oh the devils work in this living hell” puts Eamonn in a good position to becoming the enfant terrible of heavy blues rock.
It’s just his way of facepalming his marketing guys and the industry’s “best practices”: “I don’t want silly fun sports with strings, I want my music to reflect life,” the guitar whiz clarifies. “And in our lives – in this world – you start slow and get going. As awareness solidifies and consciousness grows, you speed it up, eventually working your way towards happiness. Whether you’ve just been born or you just woke up in the morning, that’s how it is!”
With his brand new self-titled album , Eamonn introduces the listener to a supercharged, heavy rocking portrayal of the traveling blues rock artist’s life. Everything on Eamonn McCormack is interconnected: the places he’s seen, the people he’s met and jammed with, the miles he’s covered, and the experience he brought home to friends and family, time and time again.
The result is an album that feels like a handful of rich, fertile soil, composed of the best this planet has to offer. You can’t expose yourself to it without getting dirty, depending on your own definition of dirt: The blues on Eamonn McCormack’s eighth album is certainly not clean. Neither is the rock, nor the indie folk that Eamonn throws at it. And how could it be, anyway – being found, carried and shaped far off the beaten track that too many norm-abiding, standardizing copycats have already paved and cleaned? This warm, road-dusty record isn’t meant to be seen as a blues tourist’s postcard but as the recollection of a traveler in many respects, a true explorer. The stories that Eamonn has brought back home over the years are being told in a down-to-earth fashion, interwoven with the gritty mud of delta blues, lush southern American rock, Celtic Irish spirit, Hendrix-infused funk and even the eclectic layering of a quiet, post metal atmosphere, when it’s time to let go.
The aforementioned opener Living Hell is intense, as dark as it gets but isn't just that the artist's duty, to highlight this aspect of life too? Overall, the sound of the new album is heavier than the previous release, Storyteller but the virtuosity of the bluesman McCormack remains.
Hats off to Lemy pays an homage to the rock'n'roll icon in style. Hard, heavy, fast and sweaty.
Lady Lindy tells a tragic story of Amelia Earhart, first woman to fly solo transatlantic, who disappeared with her navigator in attempt to fly around the world, in 1937. The powerful lyrics are backed by trademark blues guitar. If nowhere else you get an idea what Eamonn McCormack is about, this track paints a complete picture with some mouth-watering and ear-catching solos.
Living in the Now features the unmistakable sound of 12string guitar. Compelling words encourage us to live more in the moment, be present. Past is past and we cannot change it and future is something we shouldn't think about that much.
"Yesterday is like a dream that's long gone."
Angel of Love is a wake-up call to society to stop the wars. How fitting is that given the current situation in various places in the world torn apart by senseless violence?
Social media blues is another perfect example of fitting observation of one's surroundings. It is a painfully acurate snapshot of how addicted the modern society is to smartphones and everything that goes along with it.
You may take the Irishman out of Ireland but you cannot take Ireland out of the Irishman. Closing album track, The Magic of Slieve League, proves just that. Mystical, dreamy, soaked with myths and legends, this an intriguing track, not only sharing the love for a place with the listeners but inviting them to go and see for themselves. What are you waiting for?