Rave review of JAMES LEG “Below The Belt” from THE DAY

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Covers are something modern rockers avoid, but Leg demonstrates how they can give context to the originals, which in this case often do them one better: the frenetic “Casa de Fuego” and “Glass Jaw” are remarkable, and the piano on “October 3rd” and “What More” are fuller and more memorable than anything this side of Nicky Hopkins. Leg tones it down for exactly the right amount of time: the length of “Disappearing,” written by one-time bandmate Mark “Porkchop” Holder. Through that and most other cuts, Leg makes a case for the continuing relevance of styles and trends that have sadly fallen out of favor: blues, gospel, and feedback. More than that, it’s the most invigorating and outright best rock album in years — and he did it all in 36 minutes. – READ THE ENTIRE REVIEW HERE

9 ½ /10 review of DATURA4 “Demon Blues” from 100% ROCK MAGAZINE

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Whilst at first listen it may seem like Demon Blues is a rifferamic hard rockin’ boogie assault from start to finish, there’s nothing one-dimensional about the album at all – like an back-road rally there are wild careers off the beaten track into Hawkwind-ey space-psych (Another Planet), instrumental drag-race-guitar-duels (Hoonsville) and sludgey proto-metal-meets-T-Rex stomps (the title track), just to name a few. – READ THE REVIEW HERE

8/10 review of DATURA4 “Demon Blues” from UNDER THE RADAR

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Demon Blues is throwback in the best possible way, the way you can go to some underground club in your nearest big city and see kick-ass rockers throwing it down like it was 1972. But unlike those amateurs, Datura4 is the real deal. In Mariani and Hitchcock, it has the pedigree. Demon Blues is an album that needs to be played loud, late at night, in the dark, and preferably live. – READ THE ENTIRE REVIEW HERE

Great 8/10 review of JAMES LEG “Below The Belt” from The BLUES

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Cranked punk-blues from Texan keyboard anarchist.

Anybody who hasn’t heard James Leg or his pre-solo caterwauling grooves with Black Diamond Heavies should a) feel downright ashamed and b) give this gloriously dishevelled long-player a blast.

Below The Belt cranks out filthy, overdriven punk-rock blues with Leg’s Fender Rhodes sounding like a thousand instruments at once. His throaty vox bring to mind Tom Waits and GG Allin trading shots with a pissed-up Jim Morrison. It’s like the man’s gargling nitroglycerine or something similarly lethal. – READ THE ENTIRE REVIEW HERE

★★★★ ALL MUSIC gives 4 stars to DATURA4 “Demon Blues”

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Australians are a people who traditionally prefer their rock & roll hearty and full-bodied, and Datura4, a new combo featuring several veterans of the Aussie rock scene, certainly seem to bear this out. On their debut album, 2015’s Demon Blues, Datura4 reel off a broad range of stylistic influences that almost entirely reach back to hard and heavy sounds that enjoyed their heyday before 1974 — high-swagger boogie and blues-rock, psychedelic guitar exploration, simple first-generation hard rock, and just the slightest dash of garage rock sneer and fuzz for flavoring. READ THE ENTIRE REVIEW HERE