Review: The Cold Stares ‘Voices’

Hardcore blues/rock crew The Cold Stares absolutely explode all over their latest record Voices.

Voices came out on Mascot Records / Mascot Label Group and brings us the sound of a newly-expanded Cold Stares lineup going for it all and getting there. The band had been a duo for a decade made up of singer/guitarist Chris Tapp and drummer Brian Mullins. Now that bassist Bryce Klueh is in the mix, The Cold Stares have gone from a bare-bones two-man sound to a more fleshed-out approach that channels a vintage power trio vibe.

The end result of the expansion is a bold, cinematic record that’s both nuanced and unvarnished. Voices finds the group firing on all cylinders, putting down a high-test truckload of true rock and roll in the Cream/Zeppelin tradition that contends with love, loss, sin, redemption, hope, and regret. The Stares self-produced these new tracks and captured them in only two days with engineer Mark Needham (Taj Mahal, The Killers, Imagine Dragons, Walk the Moon, Fleetwood Mac) at the desk. In the zone much? You better believe it.

The Cold Stares launched in 2012, when pals Tapp and Mullins teamed up for a fill-in gig. They began turning heads at once, dropping hot albums and hitting the road with the likes of Larkin Poe, Rival Sons, Reignwolf, Spoon, Grand Funk Railroad, and Thievery Corp. The band has drawn much critical praise and has also had their music heard everywhere from ESPN and TNT to the hit video game Cyberpunk 2077. Now entering a new era as a trio, The Cold Stares are on an unlimited upward trajectory.

The new set opens with the gravelly rocker “Nothing But The Blues.” The song tells the eternal human story of hard times in a hard-luck town and holds nothing back. Musically, The Cold Stares play with abandon and authority, riffing with Zeppelin-like thunder and fury. The stark, plain-spoken honesty of the lyrics is sobering and real, giving listeners a glimpse of a life that could have easily been theirs.

Guitarist Tapp then leads the band into the grinding, mid-tempo “Come For Me.” He’s a tight, ferocious player who extracts great power from each note he plays. His rhythm work and riffing is just as impressive as his soloing and this tune lets him show us all that he does well. Mullins and Klueh are completely in the pocket with him and their three-way ensemble groove is undeniable.

“Got No Right”

 
The crunching “Got No Right” recalls the hard, British blues/rock of Cream. The Cold Stares nail this old-school sound without ever twisting it into something it shouldn’t be. Tapp’s vocal ability shines on this one. He has a big voice with a great presence in the mix that’s impossible to ignore. “Sorry I Was Late” lets him go in a more mellow, emotional direction. He dials back on the belt and ups the soul quotient, singing against a single electric piano accompaniment that’s haunting and way up in the nighttime sky. It’s a sorrowful, genuine moment, the kind of quiet spot that means everything.

The title song “Voices” quickly gets back to business with some fuzzed-out guitar and a big beat. The groove and riff conspire to make it a rump-shaker and Tapp’s vocals and guitar make it a radio hit. The single “Throw That Stone” is set deep in the album’s sequence, holding down the tenth position, but is a sensational tune that again pulls major emotion out of a minimal arrangement. The Stares augment themselves on it with guest appearances by bluegrass singer Brenna Macmillan and acclaimed mandolinist/multi-instrumentalist Warren Hood, who help them conjure up some late-night, swampy magic you won’t soon forget.

This new, expanded version of The Cold Stares is a fresh, budding entity ready to take fans to places they’ve never been. Voices is a career-defining effort that shows them to be as capable and creative as their influences ever were. Get it, crank it, and love it.

Stream Voices by The Cold Stares Here