Day 71: The Shrine - Bless Off

Artist:   The Shrine
Album:  Bless Off
Source:  Spotify

Pre-listening Notes:  About all I could find really about this band is from a review of their previous album, Primitive Blast, and it says "Fuelled by nasty hallucinogens, ditch weed and cheap beer, the band combine the hook-laden appeal of ‘70s hard and garage rock with stoner metal and gritty ‘80s hardcore."  Sounds good to me.   
        
Initial Reaction:  Okay, this reminds me of a younger Fu Manchu, with maybe a hint of Turbonegro.  I'm alright with this, so far.  It's definitely rock.  It doesn't really let up either, in this first song.  I definitely would say this band has listened to a lot of early Kiss.   

Random Thoughts:  As with most bands of this style, I have a feeling the songs are going to fit a sort of pattern.  I definitely see the description above fitting this band pretty much dead on.  Some variation comes in on the song called The Duke.  It slows it down a little and fuzzes things out a little more.  The pace picks up quite a bit on Nothing Forever, this has a more punk feel to it.  This is the song I've liked the most so far on this.  I half expect every song to be about a van.               

Final Reaction:  This was alright, if you're looking for a modern band with 70's muscle car rock nostalgia.  I enjoyed it, but I could have done with a little bit more variety.  Vocals had the right feel to them and the music would fit a certain mood for sure.  I don't know that I'll ever come back and give it another listen, but at least I enjoyed it once.              

Final Grade:  6.0/10