Cassette Review // The Revelator "Fixin' Make You Honest" (Royal Defect Records)

https://royaldefectrecords.bandcamp.com/album/fixin-make-you-honest

The sound The Revelator can start with this sort of Johnny Cash feel to it, but by the end you'll hear more influences of rock n roll than country.   The opening song is a message to Satan and that he is going down.  It reminds me a bit of the song "In Time" by Mark Collie, which was made most famous by being part of "The Punisher" soundtrack (the Thomas Jane version of Frank Castle at that)

After the sounds of some glass bottles clanking around and static, we go into the second song- "Southbound"- which has these big rock riffs.  In ways, the vocals feel like they're coming through a megaphone so that mixed with the distortion in here makes me think of Stone Temple Pilots, specifically from either the "Core" or "Purple" days.   Big, loud and heavy distortion comes through on "Shiner Keg", which seems to be a song about just that and there are also some sweet guitar solos within here.

With big, winding guitars we go into an audio clip as we reach the fourth song.  But we're right back into that loud rocking on the fifth and final song, as it even begins to remind me a little bit of Mudhoney.   But overall this just has a sound of rock n roll.  There are moments where it feels like The Revelator is a preacher and we're listening to a sermon but good rock music can do that to you.

There was a time in rock music where it felt like grunge was ending and no one really knew what was next.  There wasn't a definitive sound to take over, the way grunge killed hair metal, but bands like STP carried on.  And so in that time, we really found this sound that people don't talk about as much, but I hear it in The Revelator.  I enjoy so much that this is not only making me think of the past in that way, but it brings it into the present tense, which can hopefully preserve it for future music as well.