GIG REVIEW: THE RISING SOULS Play King Tuts, Glasgow With Support From PARIAH SOUL

The New Year celebrations have been extended in Glasgow as The Rising Souls set the bar for gigs in 2019

Pariah Soul

First up for us tonight is local Blues/ Rock trio Pariah Soul and what a way to kick things off. Due to the small stage the band were crammed in and we have Craig and his drum kit stuck centre stage and it worked well. As he shares singing duties it was brilliant to see both the vocals and the brutal drumming up front for a change.

The Hogmanay hangovers and headaches may have just been subsiding but with it being a Saturday night most were heading for a bit more liquid cheer and the boys were the perfect soundtrack to that, with their very upbeat blues the packed venue was jumping early.

Highlights had to be “Hang” and the set closer in “Rain” with its heavy groove guitar, they were channeling the very best of Black Crowes and sweating buckets by the time they finished.

This is a great local talent that deserves your attention. Get them in your ears now and then go see them live. You will not be disappointed.

The Rising Souls

It has not been long since I discovered The Rising Souls and with them going into their 7th year together this is a surprise to me. After a lot of people had been telling me to check them out I made sure I visited the small hall when they were playing at Winterstorm festival in November last year…and I was blown away.

I benchmark every band on their live sets and I try to see as many new bands as possible and looking back there were two bands that really struck me as incredible live last year, The Rising Souls were one and the other was Greta Van Fleet. That is no bad company I can tell you and with the number of gigs I witnessed that is one hell of a compliment.

By the time the boys took to the stage the hall had finally warmed up and the punters were crammed front to back. The night was set in the very first bars of opener “Roulette, Roulette”. Those dirty riffs and heavy bass gave way to the distorted vocals of Dave until he got to the chorus and you hear the power of that voice and watch the veins on the side of his neck pulse.

They instantly slow it down on “Walk On” from the EP set me free and this is where the likeness to The Temperance Movement comes from. Yes, you have two incredibly powerful Scottish singers, yes you have two unbelievably talented bands and yes you have some seriously groove laden songs but they are still both very different.

“Set Me Free” is next and as we get to the early breakdown and the Tarantino soundtrack vibe you realise just exactly what a sexy bitch of a tune this is. The crowd know this song well and are singing along like crazy.

This is also a great looking band, of course you have the vest wearing, muscle laden, popeye hat wearing Dave up front but Oscar on guitar is as cool as a cucumber behind his aviators and kelso on bass is back in the 70s and rocking out like a fish out of water. Reece on drums may be lurking in darkness but he makes himself known with powerful and metronomic precision.

With their mix of classic rock and blues I can see this band taking off massively. They have that something extra that propels them beyond others, they can rock out with the best of them and they

can slow it right down with the likes of the song “Escape” where Dave Archibald straps on the acoustic and although the tempo goes right down the crowd are in awe as the focus is on those vocals and man are they powerful.

The Rising Souls kicked of 2019 in style and are going to be hard to beat for me. It may be a while before we see them live again as it is rumoured they are going to focus on writing for a full length album. I cannot wait to hear the outcome and I look forward to their next live show which has to have outgrown this venue.

There are big things ahead for The Rising Souls, I fully expect some big festivals to be scooping them up and they could be one support slot away from breaking through and following in the success of The Temperance Movement as they deserve the chance to shine just as much.

Images and Words Ritchie Birnie

Originally posted on Metal Planet Music