Jungle
Siena Root: Pioneers

Pioneers

(Siena Root)
Label(s): 
Genre: 
Release Date: 
Monday, November 17, 2014
Grade:
A-
Tracks: 
9

Hailing from Sweden, Siena Root has a new album out called "Pioneers" that could be an aptly named album or one that is not. By giving their new album the title of "Pioneers", it seems to me that Siena Root is giving a nod to the pioneers of rock & roll music. However, if I'm wrong, if they are not giving a nod to the pioneers of rock & roll, then I'm not sure what they would be saying with the title. After listening to the album though, I'm going to go wit that they are giving a nod to the bands of old that put rock & roll music on a path for the world to experience. I say this because the way the songs are played on this album have a 70's rock & roll quality to them.
Considering that one of the songs, a bonus track as it's being listed, is "Whole Lotta Love", originally done by Led Zepplin in 1970 and with this track, eve with it being the last track, this is the essence of the album. Listening to this album is what it must have been like back in those days in the 70's when you got that new rock album. I love that old 70's rock & roll music, it's style is one that is unmistakable and almost instantly known as being a 70's song. That's what this Swedish band has, that new rock music fun with this album. They have captured the soul of what music in the 70's was like and brought it to the year 2014 (well now almost 2015). Listening to some of the guitar riffs being played on the tracks, like "Spiral Trip", is so much fun that I was ready to break out my air guitar to play along with the songs. These songs go from being good old fashion rock you're brains out songs to having a groovy beat to them.
These songs have a easy flow to them, while also having a good mixture of sounds and styles being played. That song I said that has some great guitar work in it, "Spiral Trip", is played right before the song, "Root Rock Pioneers" that opens with some jazz fusion style guitar while having some keyboards playing in unison with it. These two instruments open this song up nicely, giving the flow of the album a different direction and a different style of song being played. Yet they still keep with the 70's core in the songs and the fun energy that has been put into every song. Pioneers is a strong album, though no matter how strong there is always a weak link in that chain and with Siena Root the link I found was the vocals. Let me start with saying that they aren't bad, they also have the sound of the 70's, but they also at times just don't have the emotion put in them like the instruments do. It sounds like at times that the vocals are being sung but it's being done because it has to be. Like a job that you're good at but at that moment you don't feel like doing it, sure you can still do the job well, but your heart just isn't fully in it. That's how the vocals sound a few times, that he can sing well, he sings good, but he just don't get those emotions put into the songs like they should be.
 

Lee Roberts
Review by Lee Roberts
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