Super Vintage: Shining Light

Does Stavros Papadopoulos ever sleep? I mean I’ve literally lost count of the amount of bands and projects he helms for the ever fruitful Grooveyards Records, never mind the cornucopia of albums those outfits have released. However, it’s maybe with Super Vintage that Big Papa makes his mightiest mark and with his hard rockin’ blues band’s fifth offering he might just have made their strongest contribution. In all honesty, the six string master ain’t pulling the screens back on anything dazzlingly new on Shining Light and yet for all that this is groove infested rock from start to finish, not once does this set of songs feel anything less than fresh, invigorating and vital. Cleverly, however, there are a few little tweaks here and there for Shining Light, the band rounded out by drummer Chris Lagios, bassist Jim Moralis and rhythm fret pounder Panagiotis Zabourlis adding a few less expected moments.

“Down The Road� gets the journey started by gouging out a deep rocker that pulls in elements of Foghat, Zeppelin, Bonamassa and Whitesnake as it fires an arrow right through the bull’s eye of boogie, blues, hard rock and something altogether more melodic. Stavros has always been a decent singer but the growth in his vocal style is marked here when compared to this band’s debut - 2015’s Salvation Road - with the singing now a perfect marriage to the energetic rifftabular outbursts. From the mid-paced but fiery “Bird On A Wire� to the unsurprisingly Southern rock tinged “Southern Son� and from the beautiful clean guitars and infectious beats of the heartfelt “Too Long� to the considered “Sweet Rockin’ Mama�, the impact never once lessens and yet a lot of these tracks are cut from a more considered cloth where the intention isn’t to burn a trail of fret-fury but instead to pull at the heartstrings - albeit with vim and vigour. It’s an approach that really suits Super Vintage and when they have simply stunning numbers like “Brothers� up their sleeves to close this album out, then no wonder.

It would be unfair to call Shining Light an album that finds Super Vintage coming of age, after all, they’ve been an accomplished act since their inception. And yet, I can’t quite shake off the welcome feel that this band have matured here and in a most engaging fashion. Either way, Shining Light and Super Vintage are classic heavy - but maybe not as heavy as we might have expected - blues rock at its very best.

Track Listing
1. DOWN THE ROAD

2. BIRDS ON A WIRE

3. SOUTHERN SON

4. TAKE A RIDE

5. SHINING LIGHT

6. TOO LONG

7. KEEP IT UP

8. LONE STAR RIDER

9. BOURBON MAN

10. SWEET ROCKIN' MAMA

11. BROTHERS

Added: October 11th 2020
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Shining Light @ The Grooveyard
Hits: 1493
Language: english

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