They're Killers, Not Soldiers
The Buffalo Killers stampede onward on their sophomore album.
Buffalo Killers
Let it Ride
Released on Jul 22, 2008
Cincinnati has done it again. The Buffalo Killers have come out with the recent explosion of band like the Black Keys and the Afghan Whigs from the Ohio capital. Let it Ride, the follow-up to their debut album Buffalo Killers, is a continuation of the Buffalo Killers' developing style from their former band Thee Shams. With gritty guitar work and snappy drum fills, Let it Ride escapes the curse of producing the same album twice by expanding the horizons of the Buffalo Killers' music.
The album starts off with "Get Together Now, Today" which sets the tone for Let it Ride. Where Buffalo Killers' sound more resembled their previous band Thee Shams, Let it Ride branches out further than their first album did and makes the band more into its own entity rather than the remains of their old band. "Get Together Now, Today" has a classic southern rock sound combined with a contemporary garage rock tone and most of Let it Ride follows this same pattern with a few exceptions. "Leave the Sun Behind" sounds more like the trio's work in Thee Shams, but the vocals from brothers Andrew and Zachary Gabbard and the slow rock grind still make it something very much the Buffalo Killer's own.
"Give and Give" and "Take Me Back Home" are another example of the different directions the Buffalo Killers attempt on Let it Ride. The track isn't anything like the music preceding it. Andrew Gabbard incorporates a more 60s sounding guitar riff over his opening lyrics "Everyone thinks that things are gonna change" and drummer Joseph Sebaali uses a marching drum beat to drive the song forward. The chorus is the only part that goes back to the standard Buffalo Killers sound. It's a sound that the band can do, however they haven't mastered it well enough yet for it to be a stand-out point on Let it Ride. However "Take Me Back Home" is written in a certain style that they nail on the head. The track is a little more blues oriented than the rest of the album, but Andrew's guitar work is so enticing that the band pulls it off without a hitch. It's not a complicated song, but the intensity in Andrew's voice makes it into something that stands out from the band's previous release. It's a direction that they can more than handle comfortably, and it's something that makes the Buffalo Killers an ever-changing group.
High Point
Let it Ride goes in some directions that the band hasn't mastered yet, but they still slide by with.
Low Point
The Buffalo Killers straddle southern rock and garage rock comfortably with tracks like "It's a Shame."
Posted by Amy Dittmeier on Jul 22, 2008 @ 6:43 am