Five years after When The Owl Cries, Belgian hard rock band Irish Coffee are back with a new album, entitled Heaven. We interviewed William Souffreau, leader of the band, for the W-Fest last year and also saw them live during a day focused on music of the Sixties, decade in which the band started. Like real long-distance runners, Irish Coffee have managed, after a 50-year career, to surpass the big names of their generation by releasing an album that is better than most of the modern works of bands like Deep Purple.
The album, with 12 tracks, is really varied and starts with the well-done southern rock of “Do My Playing” with great edgy guitars. I am not a big fan of the genre, but I must admit that I have enjoyed the song. “Lay Them Shotguns Down,” has a soulful start but quickly becomes a powerful rock piece. Continuing with classic styles, “Whole Lotta Rock n roll” has a clear blues influence that will also be present in the following songs “Doing Alright” and “I Can’t Take No More”, more rocker one, heavier the other. Instead “Living Ain’t Easy” is hard rock with a catchy chorus and killer guitars.
The slow “Someday” could be a Santana’s classic and has a melody that seems to be from another time. The quietest part of the album continues with “One Day without You” and we reach one of the best moments of with “Betty and Johnny”. Hard rock and social critic can be found in “Alderman” and we are back to southern rock with “Gonna Take It As It Comes”. The album finishes with the song that entitled the album, “Heaven”, with a certain Black Sabbath vibe and another of the highlights of the album.
