Foxholes, The: Foxholesque

Released in 2020, Foxholesque is, including live albums, the ninth of ten releases from Spanish trio The Foxholes, where if you remove the CD from its snug housing in the card-digi-pack, you’ll find the motto “This album may contain traces of blues and metal�. And it does, but it also possesses so much more, with a progressive edge that sometimes powers into space rock territory, while often there is also a more riffed up fuel propelling the whole thing into orbit.

The band are made up of Jonah A Luke on vocals and guitar, Angel Milian on drums and Max ‘Mojo’ Moritz on all manner of bass like instrumentation, the trio being a hugely tight unit capable of both keeping it small and contained, or lighting the touch paper and watching their creations burn! For me, the main step up between this album and the band’s previous 2017 outing, Sci-Fox is the growth vocally from Luke, with some clever layering adding a nuance that didn’t appear prior to this, but in general he sounds more confident and much more comfortable leading his outfit from the front. In the guitar department he’s never had an issue doing just that, the riffs he and ‘Mojo’ sit atop beautifully rounded as they remind of everything from Sabbath to Hawkwind, while exactly aping neither. However, none of this would be possible without the grooves that Milian lays down from behind the kit, with the upbeat stoner vibe that so infuses the band’s latest album, Hex, also a potent weapon across the opening pair here of “Cruzada� and “Orbe�. Proving a much more pensive side-step, “Vepar� adds a tension filled change of focus before the mystical “Who Do You Think You Are� maybe hints at a cross between mid-era Manfred Mann’s Earth Band and Blue Oyster Cult. A clever guitar line and organ swirl that catches the imagination prove this band’s class, before the much more forceful title track ramps the riffage right back up. And with bonus track, “La Sed Que Yo Tengo� a mid-paced thunder of Ghost grooves and hooks, I’d go as far as to suggest that it might actually be one of the best things on show.

The Foxholes really are an excellent, undiscovered outfit sure to appeal to lovers of riff fuelled rock, melody infused and controlled metal, and something much more spaced raced. Foxholesque is an excellent place to begin your exploration of a band who, it would appear, have a lot worth unearthing in their catalogue.

Track Listing
1. Cruzada
2. Orbe
3. Vepar
4. Who Do You Think You Are?
5. Foxholesque
Bonus Track
6. La Sed Que Yo Lengo

Added: May 21st 2022
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: The Foxholes @ bandcamp
Hits: 763
Language: english

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