Review: THE BIG ROUGH “Hang On Tight” (EP, 2012)

By David Pearce

Artist – The Big Rough
Album – Hang On EP
Label – none
Year – 2012

1. Thunder Guts
2. Sweet Little Dynamite
3. Burning Down In Flames
4. Double Ace To Hell
5. Gold Washerman

Italian Trio The Big Rough is a brainchild of Alex Cole, guitarist, composer and singer who fell under the spell of blues and rock n roll. In 2010 after months of searching he found the right musicians to realise his dream firstly he was joined Massimo Cavagnera on drums then later he was joined by Paolo Vendetti on bass. Immediately the trio hit it off and built a strong relationship and artistic feeling in April 2011, the unreleased track „Call of the Wild“ is included in the compilation of the monthly “Rock Hard“ (Italy) magazine, among many other important bands, such as Uriah Heep. Now the trio is serving us up with Hang On Tight EP which includes five new songs.

The first song on the EP is Thunder Guts it starts off with a slow clean little riff which then goes straight into the vocals and a good drum beat with the guitars giving it overall a really good feel. The chorus is really catchy and will get you singing it over and over. Which will put you in the mood for the rest of the EP.
Sweet Little Dynamite starts with a little drum roll then straight into a good guitar riff with a rhythmic drum beat then shortly after the vocals come in which is clean and very punchy. The riff continues throughout the song with a little quality solo in the middle and a run down to end the song.
Burning Down The Flames again starts with a clever little drum beat then the guitar comes in with a cracking little riff a little bit of vocals then a pause then that riff comes in again and all you can do is tap your feet.

Then you have some quality quick vocals through the rest of the song that really goes well with beat and the guitars this carry’s on for the rest of the song.
Double Ace To Hell also starts with a good drum beat then the bass kicks in with a lovely little run down then the guitar kicks in with a rock n roll blues riff which I think really goes well. The vocals come again through clean & punchy got a bit of a surprise in this song they threw in a Harmonica which gave it a real blue’s rock n roll vibe which really worked together with the guitars a great song that will get you rocking around in no time.
Gold Washerman starts of with the sound of the wind then cowbells chimes with a train in the distance the guitars come in slow and purposeful with the cowbell chiming away then the beat starts to quicken with a pounding drum beat. Then all of a sudden a rip roaring guitar riff blows the slow start right out of the water that really got my head a nodding. Through the song the tempo is a lot quicker the rest of the songs on the EP but then near the end it slows down a little with some talking vocals. Then it speeds up again, which then they give you a terrific guitar solo to end the song on. This song was probably my favourite song off the EP it had it all a great riff, speed as I said a terrific solo at the end.

Overall

If you like blues rock n roll sound you cannot go wrong with The Big Rough EP it is well worth listening to.

8/10

Reviewed By David Pearce