Mother Road deliver a smoking hot set of classic rock fused with the blues, these days, I don’t listen to this sub-genre a lot, but I’ll make an exception for these guys.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Mother Road
ALBUM: II
LABEL: Metalapolis Records
SERIAL: MPR 0103
YEAR: 2021
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: 
LINEUP: Keith Slack – vocals * Chris Lyne – guitars * Barry Sparks – bass * Zacky Tsoukas – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Fools Gold * 02 Sticks And Stones * 03 Spread It All Around * 04 Matter Of Time * 05 Without You * 06 Side To Side * 07 Cold Heat * 08 Ain’t Got The Blues * 09 The One You Keep * 10 Southland
RATING: 
WEBLINKS: FB Page
Background
Fresh from the Metalapolis Records production line comes the German/American quartet Mother Road with their second album. These guys were previously signed to AOR Heaven releasing their debut ‘Drive’ back in 2014.
The personnel credits are impressive. Check this out: Keith Slack (Steelhouse Lane, Mudpie, Michael Schenker, Taz Taylor Band), Chris Lyne (Heartlyne, Soul Doctor), Barry Sparks (Yngwie Malmsteen, Michael Schenker, Dokken, Cosmosquad, Corporate Control), Zacky Tsoukas (Soul Doctor).
Mother Road deliver a smoking set of classic rock tunes fused with the blues. Now normally these days, I don’t listen to this sub-genre a great deal, but I will make an exception for these guys, as this is how the sub-genre should sound like on any given day.
The Songs
Mother Road immediately kick the can to the curb with the overdriven ‘Fools Gold’, topped with a superb solo from Lyne and a classic bit of prose from Slack: ‘send these motherfuckers back to the stone age’. No mucking around here – it would seem.
If you like a fusion of (let’s say) Glenn Hughes and Richie Kotzen, then ‘Spread It All Around’ should do it for you, it’s followed by the slow combustion of ‘Matter Of Time’. Smokey and intense at the same time.
The two tracks which follow are contrasting. The ballad ‘Without You’ didn’t do much for me, ‘Side To Side’ rolls along much better and locks into a groove that isn’t quite original, as there are many other bands in this sub-genre doing similar things.
Hearing the addition of horns on ‘Cold Heat’ sends this track into funk rock territory, while ‘Ain’t Got The Blues’ is as per the title on the can. Blues as blues can be. ‘The One You Keep’ keeps to a midtempo groove but fails to excite, the same could be said for ‘Southland’, even with a load of southern rock references included in the lyrics.
In Summary
Lovers of old school classic rock should find some mileage with this set, though as mentioned, it’s not unique nor original. The guitar work from Chris Lyne is immense, and gives Mother Road an advantage over the competition within this sub-genre of rock.
Worth checking out. As an aside, Sparks also appears on the brand new Corporate Control project featuring Paul Sabu; so we might look at that one at some point too.
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