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Doomsday Outlaw: Hard Times
Doomsday Outlaw - Hard Times Music Review

Doomsday Outlaw: Hard Times

Melodic Hard/Heavy Rock
4.0/5.0

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Frontiers Music
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 02.05.2018

Derbyshire's Doomsday Outlaw is riding the high road of recognition and acclaim. Their 2016 debut album Suffer More was well-received by both press and fans. Out on the concert circuit, the band has developed a loyal following thanks to their enthusiastic live sets, while sharing the stage with Stone Broken, Warrior Soul, and Vintage Caravan. Now signed to Italy's Frontiers Music label, Doomsday Outlaw returns with their second effort, Hard Times.

Doomsday Outlaw Band Photo

Doomsday Outlaw

Doomsday Outlaw offers a mixture of hard and heavy melodic rock, reminiscent of the Seventies, then twisted with a blues vibe. With vocalist Phil Poole at the microphone, he gives their sound a soulful timbre as well. As I listened to Hard Times, I found the core of the Doomsday Outlaw sound to be riffs and groove. There's plenty of rich guitar harmony in the riffage. The rhythm section delivers a rock groove that moves between smooth and sweltering. After these things, the guitar solos follow. They can be subtle as within Hard Times or Come My Way, or brisk as inside Spirit That Made Me and Will You Wait.

To mention a few songs, let's begin with that last one, Will You Wait. Something of a ballad, it begins peacefully with acoustic guitar followed by voice over a steady drum beat. It rises eventually, becoming heavy, but at the midpoint synths swell and a killer guitar solo opens at two-thirds. A more traditional ballad comes with Into The Light: simply Poole's voice over piano for lonely moody song. You can kick out the jams with heavy, blues infused, rockers such as Bring It On Home or Break You. Alternatively, Days Since I Saw The Sun turns more upon radio-friendly melodic hard rock thanks to the catchy AOR accessibility in the melody and refrain. More heavy and slow grooving tunes come with Were You Ever Mine and Too Far Left To Fall, both thick with riffage and a churning bottom end. All in all, for some hard and heavy melodic rock, Doomsday Outlaw hits the mark with Hard Times. RIYL Inglorious, Wayward Sons, or Bigfoot.



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The Bottom Line

All in all, for some hard and heavy melodic rock, Doomsday Outlaw hits the mark with Hard Times. RIYL Inglorious, Wayward Sons, or Bigfoot.

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