Album Review: Sonny Vincent - "Snake Pit Therapy"

 

It's safe to say that what Sonny Vincent doesn't know about rock 'n' roll probably ain't worth knowing. Having now been on the scene for almost five decades, first fronting the Testers and then as a solo artist, I have to be honest and say that my knowledge of his output is embarrassingly limited - I'd heard one of his albums, The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, on Acetate records nearly two decades ago.

Snake Pit Therapy is exactly the sort of no-nonsense stripped-back rock 'n' roll you'd expect from Vincent, cramming 15 tracks into 35 minutes. It's far from one dimensional though and you'll realise this as early as second track Messed Up In Blue which despite its jangling guitars has a definite air of menace and desperation about it. The End Of Light and Never Tired could both almost have come from Bob Mould's excellent Blue Hearts album last year and The Rain Is Black Again has the same sort of minor chord singalongability that the Replacements once did so well. Elsewhere, Can't Absorb sounds like some righteous collision between Jello Biafra and Tom Waits and Radiation Day has an almost swing style to it as the lyrics see Vincent staring death in the face with plenty of Little Richard style whooping and hollering. At the other end of the scale, Japan Mofo and Ruby Diamond are full throttle rock 'n' roll rave-ups and all the better for it 

Lyrically, Snake Pit Therapy is very much the confessions of a rock 'n' roll lifer as songs such as Higher Than Charlie and the gentle almost countrified strum of Another Land testify. It's never anything less than a thoroughly engrossing listen as Vincent's scarred vocals and the urgent backing draw you into his seedy world where rock 'n' roll wears you down but you still can't wait for the next gig, the next riff and the next audience as exemplified by the closing four minute (relatively epic by the rest of this album's standards) Forest which sees him offering up a message of hope with its repeated refrain of "You're not alone". It's compelling stuff and has definitely inspired me to check out more of Sonny's stuff. Hopefully it'll do the same for you.

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑 (8/10)

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