The Moshville Times - Album Review: The Answer

The Answer, once kings of the classic rock scene, have had a lengthy absence since their last album over six years ago. During that time, there’s been a wealth of bands who have come (some even going, too) but the Northern Irish lads can still lay claim to being true originals and at this point, with debut album, Rise, legally allowed to drive, elder statesmen of the current crop.

Much in the vein of AC/DC, Motörhead, The Quireboys etc. The Answer had a tried and tested formula and it worked. Consistently putting out solid albums and never off the road, they didn’t stop. With the new sounds found in Solas, it wasn’t quite a departure but it wasn’t quite The Answer’s usual fare. A recent listen to their entire album output to prepare for the tour and re-contextualise album seven, finds it in a more favourable light than I remember. It wasn’t bad, just different. In actual fact, listening to it in 2023, it feels freshers and dare I say it, ahead of its time.

Sundowners didn’t hit me like a ton of bricks like I was expecting it, too. It doesn’t pick up where its predecessor left off, stripping out all the Celtic and folk tones. But it’s not the band going back to basis. Indeed, this isn’t the same band that was full of piss and vinegar on those early albums. It’s more of a middle point for them. But what I did notice about this record is that it’s very much a grower and with every listen, another layer is peeled back. This is The Answer all grown up. It’s moodier, introspective, sonically more sophisticated and demands your attention in a more confident attitude as opposed to the brash rambunctiousness of youth.

There’s some interesting songs here with more complex arrangements than you’d typically expect of The Answer. And it’s here where the album soars highest. The gospel-infused “No Salvation” is one of the most memorable as it’s the band trying something different and succeeding. Indeed, adding those tones to mix with their usual bluesy style of classic rock has been done with other bands and they’ve pulled it off here. It’s revisited on the closing moments of the final song, “Always Alright”. It’s big and bold, adding texture to Cormac Neeson’s grizzled vocals. “All Together” dabbles with it, toned down to allow the weighty, driving number to keep the heft that it pushes for the majority of the song.

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Elsewhere, the slow burn of the opening/title track is an immediate signal that this album is a new beast. Clocking in at six and a half minutes (ironically the same length of years since their last album), the fuzz-drenched guitar winds around the snarling bass and when it opens up into more bombastic elements, hints of prime era Rival Sons shine through. “Cold Heart” gets the country twanging box ticked with its Americana and Southern rock tones. If you added a second guitar and swapped out Neeson’s vocals for a calmer, lilting set of pipes, you’d have a song Blackberry Smoke would be kicking themselves for not writing.

However, if it’s up-tempo rockers you’re after, they’re still present, albeit fewer in number. But when they show up, they make their presence felt. The stomp of “Blood Brother” is full of grit and swagger as the confidence sweats from them. “California Rust” is likely to be a firm favourite among fans as it could have come from any of the first four albums as is following track “Want You to Love Me”. Meanwhile, “Living on the Line” corrals all of this together, marrying the old with the new. There’s a forcefulness to it but it’s brought back to Earth with its gang vocals, not quite the gospel stylings found elsewhere and it’s built with audience participation in mind.

Sundowners is The Answer, just not as you know or remember them. And that’s ok. It may not be a new high point for them and that’s ok, too. But I can’t say it’s a bad album because it’s simply not. If they had returned with an album like their early work, in this current landscape, it would have been pastiche. It’s an album which will likely divide people and for those unsure, stick with it. And for those wanting those early albums – they’re still there, you can listen to them whenever you want. Personally, I can’t wait to see what makes the cut from this album on the impending tour as they were always a force of nature in the live environment.

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Sundowners is released on 17th March

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