It’s been five years since frontman Rob Carlyle and his Compulsions cohorts released their widely and wildly acclaimed sophomore album, ‘Dirty Fun’. Man doesn’t time fly when you’re enjoying yourself.

With a sound that was equal parts Aerosmith, Faces, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The New York Dolls and The Rolling Stones it was a no brainer that this was going to impress most of us here at RPM Online and when we saw Rob had drafted in some of our favourite players it was always gonna work.  Fast forward half a decade and can that magic be recreated? Can Rob come up with another fistful of tunes that would nestle in our heads and soundtrack our downtime during this pandemic?  Fuck yeah! of course, you non-believers’ Ferocious’ i every bit the Rock and Roll record we were expecting and craving.

Another day another line up another record but could Carlisle recreate the magic he did with guitarist, Richard Fortus, bassist, Sami Yaffa and drummer, Frank Ferrer.

So what do you want? old-school roots rock? Hell yeah!  Sleaze-punk? But what about a bit of funk-metal?.

You want to know who replaced the likes of Sami Yaffa (like that’s possible I know but hey) Carlyle has enlisted the world-renowned guitarist, Earl Slick and how about Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal, best known for his work with Guns N’ Roses, also throw into the mix former Raging Slab bassist, Alec Morton, and former Dolls drummer, Brian Delaney.  With those players in mind maybe you can see how the variety of style might be possible.

What these guys have created is the rootsy rockers “Born on a Landfill” a wonderful little ditty right out of the Izzy Stradlin meets a bit of the Georgia satellites with some awesome organ wheezing for good measure.  As openers go this ones so laid back it’s positively horizontal. The second track “Band Of Thieves” is a bit more psychedelic with a big punch about it.  As for the more hard-rocking how about “Addicted”? With its slide and big groove its a killer track and the louder the better.  If you’re wondering what the Funk I’m on about well that curveball comes courtesy of “Funk #666” with its huge groove. This one should be a sweaty dance floor classic. The rhythm section is thunderous.  Carlyle also throws a couple of covers into the mix one being the standard and a rather safe cover of the Stones classic “Dead Flowers” whilst the other is a bit left of field and sees Carlyle tackle the Guns N Roses rock and roll of “Dust N’ Bones.”

Carlyle explains the choice of covers on Ferocious: “Ever since I started The Compulsions, the idea was to create a sound that lives somewhere between The Stones and GN’R. Like if you put Sticky Fingers and Appetite for Destruction in a blender. So, this time around, I thought let’s just spell it out for people by actually covering those two bands. I’ve always loved ‘Dead Flowers’ and ‘Dust N’ Bones,’ anyway, and I had a pretty good idea of how to put our own spin on those songs.” So that fleshes out why these two are here and worthy inclusions they are too with ‘Dust And Bones’ particularly causing a stir. It’ll turn a few heads with something of a departure on the original. It works and that’s all that matters right? Right!

“Killer in the Woodshed” is a retro rockin slice of 70s Rock. The title track is a booty-shakin’ slice of Noo Yawk honky-tonk with a superb and warm solo that leads into the laid back  ‘Man With No Name’ which is the perfect way to honk this bad boy home with its splendid sleazy late-night smokey horns Carlyle and His Compulsions do it again.  when you’ve got it – Damn, You’ve just got it and Rob Carlyle has another really impressive Rock and Roll record sails out of the east coast just in time for Christmas – Buy it!

‘Ferocious’ will finally be available via Amazon, Spotify and other outlets on Friday, November 13, 2020 – but eager rock fans can grab advance tracks “Dead Flowers” and “Dust N’ Bones” today by pre-ordering Ferocious right now from iTunes.

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Author: Dom Daley