aaamusic | On 05, Oct 2015

Jon McClure is a man whose personality shines through in every single song that Reverend & The Makers have ever released and this latest beauty is no different. As the distorted guitars please your ear-drums in ways that you thought only a juiced-up cotton bud could, McClure’s voice blares through like a siren calling the legions of Makers fans out into the fray.

There’s a rather steady pace to ‘Black Widow‘ and the band seem happy to patiently wait as the music slowly chugs along, following them down the road into the heart of darkness. In places it sounds like this could have been a Black Keys off-cut – that is until the Sheffield-accented vocals bring you right back to good old Blighty. They’ve not tried to do anything too flashy with this release, though that would hardly be in keeping with the format that’s done them so well over the past few years.

Who needs all those fiddly guitars and effects when you’ve got core basics for a song that are as strong as this? Raw, passionate and filled with harsh guitars – just the way I like it.

Ciaran Steward