About five years ago I spent a most pleasant three weeks driving up and down South Africa, I went as far north as Botswana and as far south as the Cape of Good Hope and had the radio on in the rental car almost all of the time. The thing that I notice more than anything else (apart from the exceptional beauty of the country and the extreme divide between rich and poor) is how regressive music radio was at the time. It genuinely was wall-to-wall Phil Collins and Lionel Richie which certainly is the soundtrack to my nightmares.
Why am I telling you this you may ask? Well, because Stonecollar hail from Cape Town and therefore may well have grown up listening to some really safe commercial radio but have now released their debut hard rock CD which whilst not being the greatest thing since sliced bread suggests that they may have a chance of succeeding in getting recognition beyond the shores of Africa.
Lesham Petersen who provides vocals as well as bass has an interesting Eddie Vedder style voice and Sean Tait peels off the riffs and solos with aplomb ably supported by Clinton Jurgens on rhythm guitar and Bryan Nichols on drums. Sometimes the playing is marginally better than the songwriting, for instance "Poison the Well" never really goes anywhere but "SQT" and "Turn a Blind Eye" are fine examples of what these days passes for modern rock – not metal but with a melodic sensibility.
Track Listing:
01. Not For Good
02. Trial By Fire
03. SQT
04. Turn A Blind Eye
05. Poison The Well
06. Say Your Prayers
07. Unnatural Selection
08. …As The Crow Flies
09. Loose Cannon
10. Dying Breed
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