There’s not a single band that comes to mind that compares to one quite like Sheer Mag. After all, the worlds of classic rock and modern punk are two completely disparate entities, so to see a band like this draw influence from both opens up numerous new avenues with regards to what can be achieved. Couple that with Tina Halladay’s enormous vocals, and one would imagine debut full-length ‘Need To Feel Your Love’ would be a pretty potent listen.
And yeah, you’d be right, as ‘Need To Feel Your Love’ is an incisive, utterly addictive debut from a band who are clearly going places if they carry on like this. The easiest comparison point is perhaps Alabama Shakes with the heavy grounding in soul and blues, but the punkier edge that comprises a lot of Sheer Mag’s sound does shine through in the squawking riffs of ‘Meet Me In The Street’ or ‘Expect The Bayonet’. Arguably though, they’re better in classic rock mode, whether that’s the almost disco strut of the title track or the big, bluesy rager ‘Suffer Me’ with Halladay at her most fiery.
If there’s a gripe that has to be made, it’s that Sheer Mag can feel as though they’re tailing off at points, and a couple of tracks like ‘Milk And Honey’ feel a bit tepid next to their harder material. Even so, these are minor inclusions at best, hopefully ones that are easy to iron out with time.
It would be great to see Sheer Mag do well with a sound like this. Where so many bands drawing on classic rock feel so dated and flabby, to have a band like this pull off a more contemporary take that actually works can’t be understated. ‘Need To Feel Your Love’ shows they have the chops to go far; all they need now is that right push.
4/5
‘Need To Feel Your Love’ by Sheer Mag is released on 14th July on Static Shock Records.
Sheer Mag links: Website|Facebook|Bandcamp
Words by Luke Nuttall (@nuttall_luke)
