BURNING PLAGUE-BURNING PLAGUE-

Around the turnover from hippie 60´s to the more prog 70´s every nation in the western hemisphere had a national traditional bluesband. Even so in Belgium .

Released in 1970 this outfit just match this comparison to a full. The Continent was brimming with great bluesacts thanks to the British invasion during the later half of the sixties. Burning Plague is a tough mix of hard/blues/boogie rock and they keep the torch high. This first release came after several years of touring both Belgium and Europe. Thanks to standout tunes like “A38” and “Mystical song” the album sold a whooping 10 000 copies. Impressive!!

The production is timetypical with a fresh clear soundframe and great guitar interaction with the rhythm section. The vocals are inspired by Cream and in some way John Mayall´s Bluesbreakers. This album is not your standard blues album but more of a bluesbased standard rockalbum. It stands out from other acts and keeps that the narrow thin line on the right side  of not becoming a parody. Very Good!!

Whatabout the drummer, Wille Stassen?? The resemblence to a hard driven shadow man to Bill Ward from Black Sabbath is eminent.The drive is ok but there´s a lack of striking Dynamics, clear input at the right time on so on. A better drummer would have raised this album even further and then again it´s not bad.

After a tour of Zaïre together with Danny Lademacher’s Kleptomania the group got disbanded and in 1992 they got back together and are still in business.

Great copies are out there and if you fancy European style hard/blues/boogie this is a true guiding light in that musicswamp But i´t just reaches the bar of exploring, no more.

VINYLRATING/GRADE

-5-OK!!-WORTH EXPLORING-