Soul Crimes – Slow Burning Car (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

The world is a small place; we know that and if you need proof just listen to today’s music. Gone are the purely geographical scenes, tribal affiliations and generic demarcations; music and musical allegiances no longer have boundaries and as such the sound that bands fall into these days follows similar lines. It is why when I listen to Slow Burning Car for every musical flavour and drifting nuance that comes from its close proximity to the nearby Palm Desert scene, I also hear the industrial heartland of an earlier England via the likes of Black Sabbath and the creative end of London punk such as The Ruts.

It makes for a track that is raw and muscular but also full of grooves from a distinctly non-rock place. It is big but surprisingly enough it is also clever…well, as clever as it needs to be. And if the down side of this borderless, free flowing creative world means that the result is often a homogenous, middle ground of music which is trying to be all things to all people and failing in every aspect, the upside is that bands such as Slow Burning Car can find more interesting, exciting and even obscure references from across time and place and use them to create the template for a much more positive, vibrant and edgy modern take on rock