Hollowstar – Hollowstar.

Once again another bunch of young upstarts prove that rock isn’t dead, but is well and truly alive and kicking, with the self titled debut album by Hollowstar!

The St.Ives based quartet have been causing a bit of a stir on the live circuit playing support slots and all this roadwork has lead to a headlining 7 date tour in May/June with the Manchester Star And Garter date already sold out and won the Planet Rock Best New Band Award of 2019. Due for release on May 3rd 2019, 10 tracks make their presence known and take no prisoners with a mixture of bravado and steely eyed confidence that belies their ages.

Opener ‘Take It All’ got my attention from the off by some furious riffing to make it a full on headbanger with a fretboard burning outro solo. The main riff for ‘Let You Down’ surrounds the melodically crooned vocal from Joe Bonson. There is a lot of soul here, reminiscent of early Free as a Godzilla heavy stomped midsection brings the hammer down towards a mighty outro. Invincible’, which they certainly are here as the guitars of Phil Haines and Tom Collett are set to kill backed by the pounding rhythm section of Joe on bass guitar and his brother Jack Bonson on drums. The band take their feet off the accelerator for ‘Think Of Me’, a ballad but not the sugary sweet type as it has riffs on standby to beef it up. The vocals reach new heights here as they tug at the heart strings, especially during the instantly memorable choruses.

A simple but effective main riff dominates the short, sharp grungy ‘Money’. The country and western tinged verses in ”All I Gotta Say’ take a deep breath before they muscle up into power packed choruses. ‘Good Man Gone’ is a drum heavy grinder, no more no less backed by a spotlight stealing vocal and an adrenaline rush outro of solos and riffs. ‘Overrated’ is far from its title as its barroom boogie tempos make sure it has rock radio airplay written all over it and make sure you have your air guitars at the ready midway! The laid back sparse riffs in ‘Down By The Water’ give way to let a rich, soulful vocal to take centre stage as the album ends far too soon with ‘Sinner’. This slow burner proves that the devil has the best tunes with the fires of Hell stoked up by huge choruses.

Hollowstar album track listing :- 

Take It All.

Let You Down.

Invincible.

Think Of Me.

Money.

All I Gotta Say.

Good Man Gone.

Overrated.

Down By The Water.

Sinner.

‘Sweet Suicide’ (bonus track with pre ordered copies of the album).

Hollowstar band line up :-

Joe Bonson – Vocals/bass guitar.

Phil Haines – Guitar.

Tom Collett – Guitar.

Jack Bonson – Drums.