Artist:     Black River Delta

Album:     Shakin’

Label:     Sofaburn Records

Release Date:     6.4.21  

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Washing off old hill country blues dirt from Black River Delta’s dark and stormy Shakin’ is next to impossible, which is fine by these grungy Swedes. Caked with gas station grime, their mauling, thunderous blues-rock raises hell in ways that challenge purists to fights, erupting in wild slide-guitar brawls, crashing crescendos and feverish, pounding grooves. The gloves are off.

Taking the mean, low-down nastiness of R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough, and amplifying it with a heavy, sinister dose of full-on, modern-rock potency, Black River Delta picks up where 2016’s Devil on the Loose and 2018’s Vol. II left off, as Shakin’ leaves only scorched earth behind. Honking, distorted guitar warns of trouble in the slamming opener “Burning and Burning,” which makes a big, galvanizing entrance that powerfully exorcises Led Zeppelin’s arena-sized demons with punishing drums and massive riffs. Fuzzed-out and insidiously infectious, the stomping title track exudes vintage garage-rock glee, while the same insistent rhythmic bashing, gripping hooks and primal, dive-bar energy that fuel The Black Keys phenomenon also drive “Black Gold,” “California Sun” and “Left My Heart in the City.” The two bands share similar DNA.

Then again, with a fuller, richer sound and singer Erik Jacobs’ gritty growls, Black River Delta tends to lurk more in the shadows, meditating on death and heartbreaking betrayal in the haunting “400 Hours,” falling deep into introspective isolation in a spectral “Solitary Man” and raging in a torrential “Howlin’ Back at You.” Also capable of building to explosive climaxes, like that which ends the slow, sweeping “Train Back Home,” Black River Delta gets off on Southern Gothic storytelling, devilish characters and mystery, as the undeniably thrilling Shakin’ stirs things up.

—Peter Lindblad