Back in 2015 I got pretty well impressed by She Rides Tigers (SRT) and their surprisingly brilliant debut EP “Standing on The Edge” which was beyond any doubt one of the very best records released that year and it still roars unbelievably good four years and a new drummer later. It is becoming a true classic of the genre.
When a band coming out of nowhere without the music press extending them the red carpets of vanity and the spotlight of futile fame suddenly delivers an EP as sonically addictive as “Standing on The Edge” you inevitably raise the quality bar a bit too high no matter how involuntarily the next time the band gets into a studio to work on a new record.
This said it's not difficult to guess that we’ve indeed nurtured great expectations about what this solid, exciting power trio from Chicago, formed by Joe O'Leary (vocals/guitar), James Scott (bass/vocals) and Ryan Birkett (drums) recurrently blasting some vicious, electrifying rock & roll would do when they find time for a debut full-length.
She Rides Tigers aren’t hard to define if you get to the core of their influences. The band is basically embedded into some inspirational Led Zeppelin mentorship although in its very essence SRT seem to be sounding much more to Oasis than to anything else. They can easily be considered the ambassadors of BritPop in Illinois.
She Rides Tigers debut album seems to be not much different: reverberated, fuzzy, distorted guitars; thick, vibrating, dark bass lines; steady, pounding drum patterns and vocals reminding Liam Gallagher. The album is pretty much well-balanced from opening to closing displaying considerable aesthetic coherence and above all cohesiveness throughout the song alignment.
Eight perfectly crafted songs seemingly corresponding to the appropriate formula to avoid asymmetries resulting overall in a brilliant and consistent debut album. “Scars” has a bunch of stand out songs that entirely deserve to be played on big venues across North America. For a start there’s the catchy poppiness of “Scars of Allegory”, “Perfect Crime” and “Take a Bow” where one can perceive the Led Zeppelin influence but what really overwhelms is the omnipresence of a certain “under the Oasis influence”. Take for instance the chorus parts of both “Perfect Crime” and “Take a Bow” as two good examples of this. “Heart Worth Breaking” sounds to some nice mix between Al Di Meola, Link Wray and Johnny Marr with the original SRT touch. From this moment on the album gets on fire with the absolutely thrilling, hit song that is “Out of My Mind” (Johnny Marr could have perfectly written it) followed by another highlighting moment with a slightly Bob Mould-esque super groove of “Something to Believe In” just before the superb 70s classic rock groove of “No Way Out” (a hybrid blend of Free and Alex Harvey Band) after coming to an end with the one more “under the Oasis influence” with the quintessential “Should’ve Known Better”.
She Rides Tigers did keep the bar really high with a great set of songs that leave absolutely no one indifferent because they capture the spirit and troubles of a generation which stands as one more reason why one can unconditionally rank SCARS as one of the best 2019 albums so far.
INDIEVOTION SCORE: 8/10
