Texas Hippie Coalition are back with new album Gunsmoke which was released on October 4.
The introduction in Deadman is absolutely fantastic. It’s haunting and builds up an intensity as if you’re about to draw guns at high noon.
As the song itself kicks in, it’s a good southern rock song. It has a great bass line and the stop start style of the lyrics works well. The chorus is also a good one to get people chanting along.
Bones Jones is a cool song about a ‘local entrepreneur’ who would sell weed and the lyrics are cool. Throughout the song there is a sick guitar line.
Ritch’s vocals in She’s Like a Song are a nice mix of gruff and mellow. It’s a lovely love song about that special someone. The chorus ‘She’s like a song to me, a lovely harmony, a sweet melody’ is absolutely beautifully written.
The title track also sounds like something you would expect in a classic western movie. I love how the opening lines are spoken in that ol’ country outlaw style seen in western movies, talking about hay bales.
Eat Crow is really catchy. The lyrics are extremely clever, discussing touring life, vices and ‘running with the devil, trying to keep my soul’.
The angst in Million Man Army is cool. It’s definitely on the heavier side of the album and to me seems quite Pantera-esque.
Gunsmoke is a really cool album. The vocals are rough in that classic rock style and the drum beats are good throughout, working well with the bass to create a steady rhythm. There’s some really good guitar lines too, especially in the opener, Baptized in the Mud and Test Positive. Each of the tracks is catchy in its own way and the pauses between lyrics on some of the tracks makes it stand out as something different.
I didn’t really know whether I was going to like Gunsmoke because I usually find this type of heavy rock to be hit or miss but Texas Hippie Coalition definitely have a new fan.