GOD’S REVOLVER – “Little Black Horse Where Are You Going With Your Dead Rider?” CD ’07 (Exigent, US) – It’s days like this, my friends, that I love my job. Well, ok, maybe this is a 2nd job at best and one that I don’t get paid for in cold hard cash but, well it’s days like this I love it. Here’s why. I’m stumbling around the internet and somehow find myself looking eye-to-eye with a startling drawing of some skeletonized Old West dude in front of twisted, gnarled trees. Yes, it’s the cover art for a CD and the band responsible is called GOD’S REVOLVER. Now I remember Velvet Revolver. They weren’t any damn good. But, this is GOD’S REVOLVER. Wouldn’t a REVOLVER belonging to GOD have to be pretty damn heavy? You would think, surely a helluva lot more than some pansy-assed one made of velvet. Hmmm. The album title is “Little Black Horse Where Are You Going You’re Your Dead Rider?” Besides being one of the longest album titles I’ve heard, dude, that is just impossibly cool. Let’s see, five piece band, two guitarists, song titles ranging from “Scratch Dealt Me A Dirty Hand” to “Iron Fuck.” Time to hit Amazon. And, there it is for $1.75. New. Christ, I paid a buck 75 for the CD and 4-something to ship it. Be that as it may, 3 days later it’s sliding out of the brown envelope and into my CD player. This is a “how can you lose?” It sucks, you forget the $5 and throw it in a sell pile. It’s good, you basically got it for free. I press “play” and some a somber bit of slide guitar comes creeping out of the distance. “Maybe it’s a country-rock thing?” Slam! Crash! Marshalls jacked up to 11 and Les Pauls roaring out of the gulch to take you to the mulla fuggin’ judge! No, this ain’t no country nuthin’, this is Western RAWK! As “Dead Rider Theme / This Long And Lonely Drive To Hell” ends and “Justify” begins, I’m reminded for all the world of a metalized, steroid & Jack-ridden musical variation on the HBO show “Deadwood.” I have no flippin’ idea what singer Reid Rouse looks like, but I’m imagining some big, burly & sweating bearded hombre as he absolutely roars from stem to stern, growling out lyrics laced with tumbleweed and “fuckin’” every other word. Seriously, this cat sounds like somebody stole his GTO, shot his horse and had their way with his woman while he was away. Now he’s ridden back into fucking town and just slammed open the barroom doors, standing silhouetted in the high noon sun at the front of the saloon. Guitar slingers Trey Gardner & Jon Larsen stand, dressed in black, axes smoking like 6-guns as they carve out the raw, overdriven riffs running roughshod through monster crushers like “Preacher’s Flask” & “Cantina Poetry Blues.” Meanwhile, bassist Elliot Secrist & tubsman Adam Loucks unite to form a rhythmic beat-down as deadly as shoot-out on Main Street. That would be good enough, my friends, good enough to have me singing the praises of this snarling, spitting piece of vitriolic ass-kick from the mountaintops. But then, GOD’S REVOLVER go ahead and up the ante. Check out the restrained melodies in “The Holy Breath,” the dusty backroom blues of “Boxes Done Buried” and the absolutely haunting guitar melodies interwoven in the punk-length “Eagle In Reverse” & epic closer “Roca Del Desierto.” Marvel at a lyricist who can somehow resolve concepts that range from “Whose fuckin’ bed are you sleeping in tonight?!” to “Behold a pale horse with a dead man riding, my little girl, don’t be afraid. We’ll meet again someday.” From Alpha to Omega, GOD’S REVOLVER have created a tour d force here that has become, almost instantly, one of my very favourite ablums…period. God, I love my job! 10.0
www.myspace.com/godsrevolver

NOTE: Word has it that GOD'S REVOLVER has signed to Translation Loss Records. Good. More than a few people need to hear music as potent and lethal as this. The fact that you can get this for $1.75 on Amazon while American Idol losers's discs roll out of Best Buy at $12 a clip makes me nauseated.

now on news stands. MAGNET no. 79.

- Ryan Ogle

Provo, Utah-based God's Revolver deliver eleven hard-hitting tracks on their album, "Little Black Horse Where Are You Going With Your Dead Rider?" Sounding like a blend of Black Sabbath, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Danzig, these guys play some driving, blues-based, riff-heavy rock n roll that packs a hard punch. The tight as a virgin rhythm section lays down a steady foundation off of which guitarists Trey Gardner and Jon Larsen build mighty and meaty riffs. Reid Rouse provides the vocal dynamic that holds this rock n roll juggernaut together.

Kicking off with a bluesy slide-guitar intro called "Dead Rider Theme," the band switches into overdrive with the "The Long and Lonely Drive to Hell," with Sabbath-y riffs and a pounding rhythm. The band keeps up the pace over the remainder of the next few tracks before interjecting a flute-driven track, "The Holy Breath," halfway through the album, but this is no Steely Dan tribute; this shit sounds like the soundtrack to "Dances With Wolves" on a heavy dose of acid. They drop into a riff-drenched slow number "Iron Fuck," one of the strongest tracks on the album, before picking up the pace again with driving "Preacher's Flask." "Boxes Done Buried" delivers the gloomy message "you be the horseman/ and I'll be the priest yet flawed/ Now get down on your knees and make peace with God" over a backporch blues riff that draws to mind swamps and bayou. The band picks up the pace again for my personal favorite track, "Drown Your Fucking Sorrows," which kicks off with a pounding drum beat and strong vocals. "Eagle in Reverse" continues the pace but drops into a psychedelic riff-happy breakdown beforeexploding again. "Roca Del Desierto" closes out the album with some stoner-friendly gloom that's interspersed with acoustic melodies, slide guitar and makes you want to reach for a bottle of whiskey. God's Revolver have built a monolithic sound with their strong vocals, interesting lyrics, incredible riffs and rock-solid rhythm section on "Little Black Horse Where Are You Going With Your Dead Rider?"

Fans of bands like Black Sabbath as well as newer acts like Doomriders definitely need to check out this album. Even the artwork and cd layout are bad ass. 9/10.

www.metalminute.com

Where in fuck is Provo, you might ask? Assuredly it's not the island otherwise abbreviated from Providenciales. Nope, we're talking Utah, site of the HBO polygamist series that beat recent headlines in Texas, Big Love. Of course, there's hardly anything fundamentalist about Provo's own God's Revolver, a loud and deliberately obnoxious crew of Southern rock-fused hellraisers who play with wreckless punk abandon and yelp with glass-choked caterwauling apparently inspired by late night isolation and the hairs of a three-legged dog.

Somehow, though, God's Revolver manages to glue their smash mouth rowdiness with external influneces ranging from alternative to North American tribal, both exemplified in "The Holy Breath" where you get Pixies-like guitar screeching and a lumbering tempo along with native fluting and brackish vocals from Reid Rouse, who sounds like Jim Morrison on a peyote trip and forced to slog through "The Crystal Ship" to a disaffected 10-member audience.

What's especially cool about God's Revolver is their blatant unpredictability. Go on, I dare you to peg these guys into a snug category; they're like that plastic trepezoid piece little kids are fooled into thinking goes into the diamond hole on their bumble balls until they learn better. As "Scratch Dealt Me a Dirty Hand" is like the soundtrack to a bar scrap between skinheads and truckers, "Iron Fuck" itches along nervously with an anxious mid-tempo rhythm while guitarists Trey Gardner and Jon Larsen pick, pluck and twang accordingly, leaving Reid Rouse to wail insanely by himself until joining him in a soaky gang chorus later on.

Be prepared, because Little Black Horse Where Are You Going Without Your Rider? is intentionally nutty with its bluesy chain gang ode "Boxes Done Buried," which comes off almost spiritually with its acoustic verses, hand claps, haunted whistles and steel rattles until Rouse vomits all over the damned thing. You're either going to laugh or you're going going to go "What the bloody hell?" In fact, the longer this album goes on, what you're hearing is on the borderline of brilliance as God's Revolver coughs up some shrewd and slick melody lines while their vociferous frontman who sounds like a bottle-captured Glenn Danzig and Bobcat Goldthwait swill just coughs his ever-loving guts out.

Personification in full on "Drown Your Fucking Sorrows!" as God's Revolver's rhythm section produces steady grooves and occasional nerve splinters, while Reid Rouse goes berserk in response. By the time his band ups the ante on the opening bars of "Eagle in Reverse," Rouse has figuratively spewed his load before the song scales down in tempo and allows him to savor his vocal climax, jerking off in tandem with string tugs and echoey reverb. All in preparation for the album's finale "Roca Del Desierto," which begins with a serene acoustic intro and finishes brutally and bombastically as if suffering a case of inflicted snakebite.

In some ways, Little Black Horse Where Are You Going Without Your Rider? is going to require a patient ear, but it's the textures beneath the bluntness that makes this one worth the trip. Do a shot or two of tequila while watching an old Jack Palance western before listening and you'll probably get right into God's Revolver's mindframe.

LIVE INTERVIEW

God’s Revolver takes us on a road trip to hell with grinding guitars and driving rhythms. 

When you think of hard drinking, metal loving SOB’s, Provo, Utah isn’t the first place that your mind goes to.  After listening to Little Black Horse, Where Are You Going with Your Dead Rider? by God’s Revolver, it makes me wonder what the hell is going on there.  Is Provo, Utah a punk/blues/metal oasis in the middle of the Mormon state?  Or are God’s Revolver an aberration that shouldn’t exist?  Either way, they do exist and their first album is like a kick to the head that makes you want to shoot whiskey while smoking a pack of cigarettes after getting a tattoo in a seedy shop.

 
The quintet of Reid Rouse, Jon Larsen, Adam Loucks, Trey Gardner and Elliot Secrist bang out a solid CD of punk and blues metal.  You get the feeling that these guys are living the songs they sing about; playing in crap hole bars, drinking too much cheap liquor and scoring with easy women.  It’s dirty, gritty music you don’t find too often any more.  They are the best southern rock bad to come along in a long time.

 
When I first listened to Little Black Horse, Where Are You Going with Your Dead Rider?, I thought if they ever get the Preacher series off the ground, this band has to contribute to the soundtrack.  If you read the books, playing this CD in the background will set the appropriate mood.  "The Long and Lonely Ride to Hell" opens the album with a roadhouse blues riff before lead singer Reid Rouse opens up and let’s loose.  From there God’s Revolver takes us on a road trip to hell with grinding guitars and driving rhythms. 

 
"Iron F***" carries the band’s credo; "Die Young, Live Fast." "Boxes Done Buried" slows things down a bit so you can catch your breath.  It’s a backwater blues rock track that brings images of drunken bikers falling off bar stools at 2 in the morning before being kicked out for the night.  "Roca Del Desierto" closes out the disc with a light single guitar being quietly plucked before the band jumps in like freight train dangerously careening down the tracks. 

 
Little Black Horse, Where Are You Going with Your Dead Rider? is an awesome mix of blues and metal.  If Motorhead had started in Mississippi instead of England, they would be God’s Revolver.  These five guys don’t play around.  They got what it takes to make as one of the best metal bands working today.  Little Black Horse is a long hard road to travel but it’s worth every step.

4/4

http://www.popsyndicate.com/site/story/gods_revolver_little_black_horse_where_are_you_going_with_your_dead_rider/

 Peacedogman review

http://www.peacedogman.com/reviews/032308grev.htm

A "revolver" band that’s worth a listen.

Yeeehaaaaaa! Finished watching "Deadwood"? Put on your cowboy boots, we’re heading into town! Walking through the main street with "Dead Rider Theme" playing in the background, you feel the adrenaline pumping. The boys are ready for a bar fight! Entering the saloon first song "This Long and Lonely Drive To Hell" blasts out of the stereo. The doors open and "Justify" makes you draw your guns and look around for possible victims. The bar gets silent. Many cowboys are playing poker with "Scratch Dealt Me a Dirty Hand" as cheating soundtrack. Just as things are about to get nasty, the quiet ENNIO MORRICONE flavor of "The Holy Breath" kicks in and things settle down...but not for our hero, as revenge turns into "Iron Fuck".

You probably get the picture, GOD’S REVOLVER are a bunch of cowboys who wished they were living back in the days. Vocalist Reid sounds almost exactly like Lou Koller from SICK OF IT ALL. Musically, everyone who likes BLACK LABEL SOCIETY or MOTÖRHEAD should give this one a try. The album is filled to the rim with crunching riffs, but also features moments of rest like the slow blues of "Boxes Done Buried".

This disc deserves an honest listen. The western concept is well-executed, not only in songs but also in the lyrics and the great artwork inside the booklet. Best played with lots of whiskey, classic westerns, and fine women nearby!

hell yeah ennio morricone!-elliot

Ouch! hv scene

http://www.thehvscene.com/reviews.php?id=629

I tried...I really did. I just can’t say anything besides this sucks. Does someone think this is good? Does the press sticker lie? It must...says its for fans of Queens of The Stone Age, Social Distortion and Everytime I Die(who suck anyways) but to my ears this is a horrible version of Clutch and I’ve always thought Clutch sucked balls...so yeah this is a big doody burger. It only got the 1 out of 10 because the artwork is cool for about 32 seconds.

God’s Revolver, Accidente, Patches, and someone else.

Tonight at Red Light Books

200 E. 300 S. S.L.C.

$5

http://kansascity.thenightsite.com/viewarticle.php?ID=503

God's Revolver

by Sarah Johnston

Utah has bands like God's Revolver? Hard to imagine if you are quick to stereotype the State like I apparently did!

God's Revolver... do I call them metal? Hard rock? Rockabilly? Southern Rock? Don't you just love how music crosses all lines now! Ok, so if you're a fan of Social Distortion or Queens of the Stone Age, or dare I say EARLY Modest Mouse (you know before all their depression was followed by nothing but pop hits - say 1997ish) then you definitely need this in your library of music.

The recipe for their success?... an intelligent lead guitar, solid drumming and a voice of angel. Picture, if you will, what I think Sloth from the movie Goonies would sound like had his parents spent time correcting his speech and vocabulary issues.



One of my favorite tracks on this album is "Boxes Done Buried." A stripped-down performance that sounds almost as if it had been an accident. Heavy in percussion instruments (what I think is a morraca and did I hear a triangle in there?) and yet another great lead guitar script, it's the treat in your cereal box - a pleasant surprise even though you know you're going to get one among all the sweetness.

"Eagle in Reverse" is a love ballad like no other. I'm not sure as to the inspiration of this song, but I'd love to blame it on chicks because it's simply wonderful! This is a great way to feel God's Revolver hitting different genres. This is truly a Southern Rock Metal track.

Oh and "Roca Del Desierto," well why keep ruining it. Check these guys out for yourself! God's Revolver - they may never play here, but damnit, you should be able to enjoy them just the same!

Exigent Records which I highly suggest you hit up and listen to their other artists

Of course, God's Revolver Myspace Page