Red Sky Mary – “River Child” [Album Review]

New Hampshire rockers Red Sky Mary are about as true to the classic rock ethos as they could possible get without physically being transported back to the ’70s rock heydays. From KISS to AC/DC to The Beatles, River Child is a veritable feast of classic rock and will have something in it for all you classic rockers out there.

Promising the swagger of the ’70s rock scene, River Child comes racing out of the starting gate with the rather appropriately name “All Hell’s Breaking Loose”. With the sleaze of KISS and the gasoline fueled stomp of AC/DC, Red Sky Mary couldn’t have started their first full-length album in a finer way and sets out their intentions in belting style.

From that point, while the rest of the album doesn’t quite match that opener for balls-out swagger, there are plenty of moments, like “Too Much,” where you might find it hard to resist the urge to stomp around your room like a young Angus Young. Basically, if you grew up listening to the scratchy, hissy rock albums of the ’70s, River Child is like all your favourite rock classics rolled into one ten-track album.

Elsewhere, the more serene “I Will Wait For You” is a superb way to bring the tempo of the album down but, for the most part, River Child is the kind of natural slice of classic rock that sounds unspoiled by modern technologies and certainly sits head and shoulders above the rest of the tosh that is churned out under the banner of “classic” rock.

Track Listing:

01. All Hell’s Breakin’ Loose
02. Payback
03. Gone
04. Run Ragged
05. South of the City
06. Howl
07. Pride
08. I Will Wait For You
09. Too Much
10. River Child

Run Time: 46:09
Release Date: March 30, 2015

Check out the song “Gone” here.