Album Review: Vern Daysel- Blood of a Wolf

Vern Daysel- Blood of the Wolf 

Vern Daysel as most of his bios would have it, “is a South African singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist that performs his own brand of rock & roll.
Influenced by classic, southern, blues rock and outlaw country, his music can best be described as soulful rock & roll formerly with the rock band Nighthawk, he has been performing solo gigs and touring all over South Africa as a session guitarist and drummer for various artists around the world" (Press Release).

Blood of a wolf is his second release, and it is exactly what it sets out to be, a rootsy, southern rock influenced album full of a lot of soul and grit.

In recent years, a lot of what is considered rootsy music has been denigrated, if not outright ignored. 

The blues as the basis for nearly everything in modern music, or at least it being traced back to the blues, has almost become a lost memory in time. 

I believe for one it's good to acknowledge the past, and know where this all came from. If you're only into the modern antecedents of what came before, you're missing out on the treasures that came from the past. 

The current musical landscape in Rock is struggling facing a diminishing future but also having to face the past.

Vern Daysel an example of a project/band that is very rooted in the past, but this is not a bad thing. 

Eschewing autotune, electronic beats, downtuned riffs, keyboards, and other modern conventions might be challenging to some who prefer the mechanical nature of modern popular music.

 As a matter of fact, this is probably the most “retro” album I have reviewed to date. But it doesn't have to be a bad thing, it's up to people to figure out what place such styles have in the modern paradigm. 

As for me, I am a fan of such styles as retrowave electronic music, and traditional metal, styles that have their roots in earlier decades. It is not a deciding factor as to whether I will enjoy a band whether or not they try to be a thousand genres or have the most varying time signatures in a song or not. Of course, I enjoy those styles as well.

But I digress.

Vern Daysel plays country and southern rock influenced rock with a few classic rock and rockabilly tinges on Blood of the Wolf.

The first title track is a paean to individuality and going against the grain.

There are some very tasty guitar licks interspersed throughout the album, and this one particularly had me listen in awe to the virtuosity displayed. 

Other tracks like Good to be Bad are a bit more towards the hard rock idiom, and being traditionally a metalhead, this had me bobbing my head even more. 

In fact, songs like Letting Go have a few Zeppelin style licks that add color. 

Moon River reminded me a bit of classic Creedence with some of it's down and dirty fingerpicking style. 

Overall, if you're a fan of everything from Georgia Satellites, to John Mellancamp or Skynyrd themselves, I would recommend this album. 

One of the biggest surprises is that Vern is from South Africa, but I could've sworn if not knowing this I would've guessed southern Mississippi, with amps built by Hartley Peavey himself! (Last line was a reference to Skynyrd)

You can get more info (as well as his albums) by utilizing the following links:

http://www.verndaysel.com
https://www.facebook.com/verndaysel
https://twitter.com/verndaysel
https://soundcloud.com/verndaysel