Artist: Elias T. Hoth
Title: Let Sleeping Demons Lie/Let Sleeping Demons Live
Type: CD/Live DVD & CD
Label: Unsigned
This was a slightly unusual package to arrive for Metalteam in 2010; a 2009 live DVD/CD performance of a 2008 album, all free from label support, and self produced and financed. Without checking out the band’s history, I stuck on the DVD, and the intro was an excerpt of an interview with the late great Dr Martin Luther King, telling of how around the world he was perceived as an American who happened to be black, whereas in his homeland he was a negro; heavy stuff indeed, and an attitude still perceived as prevalent in the southern US states. The concert then blasted in with ‘Mississippi Burnin’, a number about a KKK rampage and lynching, played by men in black leather duster coats, cowboy hats and sung with a southern twang, a confederate flag hung over the drum riser. Definitely a US band then? Not quite. The band are all from the UK, and the concert was filmed in Greater Manchester!
When the second track, ‘Wanted by the FBI’ fired in, complete with wailing police sirens, nothing gave away the true nationality of the band, the Southern blues boogie number telling a tale of crossing state lines to avoid a murder charge in Memphis, the vocals never revealing any hint of the UK, and the guitar playing of the scarily young lead guitarist, Sam Barnett sounding like he was channelling the spirit of Stevie Ray Vaughan through his Gibson Les Paul. It’s almost as if some kind of circle has been constructed; American blues traditions influenced British rockers back in the 60’s and 70’s, a rock style that then went back to the US to influence the like of Skynrd and ZZ Top, and now it’s headed back to the UK.
Every track of the album is a homage to Southern rock, travelling from Montana on the ‘Louisiana Train’ with its excellent blues soloing, to ‘Osark Alabama Please’ and then down ‘Mississippi Way’. All is excellently played, the standout being Sam Barnett’s guitar work, playing against some solid drums and bass work, with Elias T. Hoth’s vocals telling tales of law breaking, sinnin’, devil women, voodoo, and hot dusty road trips. Thrown into this mix is ‘Roll Down Dirdy’, a story of an encounter with a lady of the night who was somewhat more then he first appeared, and some excellent slide guitar work on ‘Mobile Alabama’, a dark number about a murderer on death row. This illusion of being born in the bayou is only broken on the live performance when the front man talks to the audience in a broad deep accent straight from Leigh in “t’north”.
The studio CD is very well recorded, having an authentic US sound, and the tracks are enhanced on the live performances, the band obviously feeding off the audience and being able to indulge with longer solos and some jamming, the bassist flying around the stage, and all professionally recorded with a multi-camera shoot. Whilst some purists may be put off when they find the true origin of the act, this is some very well played Southern rock, and well worth seeking out.
http://www.eliasthoth.com
http://www.myspace.com/eliastitushoth
