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Mojo Radio: Rise Review

Mojo Radio is back with a new album, Rise, and it was worth the wait. Hailing from Madison, Wisconsin, Adam Zierten (vocals and harmonica, Jason Peterson (guitars), Scott Aumann (bass), and Brent King (drums) sound like The Black Crowes crossed with Zeppelin and even a little Black Country Communion stirred in for good measure.

“Torn Asunder” lays the ground work that this whole album is based on. This track is a mix of a lo-fi acoustic bluesy guitar riff, some wailing harmonica, some passionate vocals, and eventually some swaggering in your face electric southern guitar rock that clearly show where this bands influences are based. From there things just get better as they continue to let it fly. “Death Of Me” rocks with a weighty pulsating rhythm that’s featured clearly at the break in the middle when the bass gets a couple of measures all alone to expose that second melody running underneath everything.

Jeff Massey from the Steepwater band joins them on lead guitar for a masterful swirling rock ballad on “See It Through.” We get a little bit of gospel influence from guest Eric “E-Rock” Anderson on keys at the beginning of “Darken My Door” where eventually Adam lets the soul fly as the pace picks up into what is clearly a rock song. “War Horse” and “Avalanche” get back to the ’70s rock sound that underpins everything. “Hold Your Breath” has a great message about perseverance and is delivered in a song that alternates between an intense chorus and much more mellow verses. “Come Hell Or Muddy Water” is the most bluesy of all the tracks and it still delivers the rock. The album wraps up with “110912,” a slow acoustic tribute to the late guitarist Paulie Heenan who was killed in a controversial police shooting.

Mojo Radio clearly delivers an excellent follow up that improves upon their initial release. Rise is the perfect name for this one, because that is exactly what this collection of original tracks should cause to happen. This is the album that ought to compel everyone to rise up from their pop radio induced slumber and take notice of these four hard rocking blues guys from Wisconsin.

The Review: 9/10                                                                                  

Can’t Miss Tracks

– Death Of Me
– See It Through
– Darken My Door
– Hold Your Breath
– Come Hell Or Muddy Water

The Big Hit

– See It Through

Review by Kevin O’Rourke

Buy the album: Amazon | iTunes

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