Steel Threads – Timing Is Everything CD review

Planet Mosh had the pleasure of reviewing Steel Threads EP back in April, and now three months later this Coventry based three piece are back with their astounding full debut album entitled Timing Is Everything.  Branded as “power-folk”, Steel Threads are a band whose line-up is as basic as it gets. Consisting of only an acoustic guitar, a double bass and a fiddle with Neil Wardleworth’s mesmerising vocals over the top, this is a band in their own league; simply because no one sounds or does what they do. Timing is Everything is an astounding debut album chock full of larger than life, embellished folk rock anthems that are some of the most memorable songs of 2012 thus far.

Made up of eleven truly amazing songs, every moment on Timing Is Everything is brilliant. Every member of the band has their moment to shine, but when they pool together collectively in songs such as ‘Dead in the Mouth’, ‘Gave You a Thought’ and ‘Steel Threads’ they are a force to be reckoned with. For a group made up of only three people, they have such a massive and wholesome sound, letting loose a powerful, tuneful and astonishing sound which prior to this release you would have never have thought folk instruments could have achieved.

Timing Is Everything is the perfect album to listen to anytime and anywhere. With folk music instrumentation and song structure that is typical of rock music, Steel Threads are a band who due to their musical diversity appeals to a wide variety of people who listen to a wide variety of genres. Tracks like ‘Nothing to Hide’, ‘Sapphire Blue’ and ‘If Words Grew on Trees’ are all songs on the album that make you want to kick back and relax, letting you soak in all the musical excellence, as the band take you on a atmospheric and surreal journey through a collection of acoustic beauty.

With tracks like ‘Last Night’s Love’, ‘All in the Song’ and ‘Let the Wind Blow’ all being clear crowd pleasers if played live, Steel Threads have written an album that not only sounds good through your speakers, but will no doubt sound just as good; or even better when played live. It’s always good to know that a band have written songs with an intention of playing them live, as in most cases 25-50% of an album is jammed up with filler. With the tracks on Timing is Everything, every song on it is worthy of being played and will no doubt have people dancing round and singing along like crazy to them.

Steel Threads are completely different to any band out there at the moment and it’s this unique selling point that is going to get them noticed and get them places in the music business. Who said fiddles and folk music aren’t rock n’roll eh? [8/10]

1: Nothing To Hide
2: Dead In My Mouth
3:Steel Threads
4: Last Nights Love
5: Let The Wind Blow
6: Hold Me Like We’ll Die Tonight
7: If Words Grew On Trees
8: Gave You A Thought
9: All In The Song
10: Sapphire Blue
11: We All Leave Alone

About Del Preston

So there I am, in Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, at about 3 o'clock in the morning, looking for one thousand brown M&Ms to fill a brandy glass, or Ozzy wouldn't go on stage that night. So, Jeff Beck pops his head 'round the door, and mentions there's a little sweet shop on the edge of town. So - we go. And - it's closed. So there's me and Keith Moon and David Crosby, breaking into that little sweet shop, eh. Well, instead of a guard dog, they've got this bloody great big Bengal tiger. I managed to take out the tiger with a can of mace, but the shop owner and his son, that's a different story altogether. I had to beat them to death with their own shoes. Nasty business really. But sure enough, I got the M&Ms and Ozzy went on stage and did a great show.