The Answer are one of those bands that came along at the right time for me.  I’d kinda given up on a lot of music on the radio and had become an avid reader of Classic Rock magazine, who did (and still does) an excellent job highlighting newer artists along with those classics from yesteryear.  The mag would always include a CD sampler of tunes, some of which would grab my ear and others I’d just skip altogether.  It was one of these samplers that I caught the band and was blown away by what I was hearing.  These new guys were brand new yet heavily steeped in the blues based rock of the 70s a la Free, Thin Lizzy, Rory Gallagher, and Led Zeppelin with plenty of balls and swagger to spare.  At the time, the band’s debut Rise was import only in the States but that certainly didn’t stop me from tossing out some extra $$$ just to grab a copy.  What I’d heard was that good.

The Answer consists of four lads from Northern Ireland- Paul Mahon, guitar; Cormac Neeson, vocals; Micky Waters, bassist; and James Heatley, drums.  Besides debut Rise the band has released an additional five CDs over their relatively short (well, 12 year!) career along with multiple singles, EPs, and special editions of their first two CDs.  Also during this period the band has done extensive touring, opening for the likes of Deep Purple, The Rolling Stones, and AC/DC, who the boys did an extensive US run with during the Australian legends’ Black Ice tour.  Currently the band is taking a short break while singer Neeson tours behind a solo release, which is a bit more laid back and personal compared to the bootstomp featured in his day job.

As mentioned the band has six discs of strong hard rock to choose from but if I have to pick one it would be the debut, solely due to the fact that it was the first disc I’d heard from the band and a good chunk of the songs had such a strong swagger n groove that absolutely knocked me out.  Not that the other discs aren’t up to snuff-  far from it; each disc is made up of strong rocking cuts with some chances taken here and there that stretch out their skillset.  Good examples of this can be the bluesy push and pull of “Why’d You Change Your Mind” and the melodic AC/DC swing of “Tonight” found on second disc Everyday Demons, the Lenny Kravitz funk of “Leave With Nothin'” found on New Horizons, the Black Sabbath/southern rock of “Raise A Little Hell” from the album of the same name, or the dark brood of the Cultesque “Solas” and haunting “Being Begotten” from the their most recent album Solas, an incredibly diverse and rootsier album that’s far removed from the heavy rock found on other albums but deserves a “good on you mate” for challenging themselves and stepping out of their comfort zone.

As a whole, if you dig bands with strong vocals (Neeson can belt with the best of them), great riffs, excellent songs, and a solid rhythm section then take a chance on The Answer.  First few albums lean to the heavier side of things on the rock scale but each album shows a bit of growth from the previous.  I must admit that other than the title cut I’ve not given Solas much of a chance, although I feel a rejiggering of the track order might have been better as the second half of the album feels much stronger than the first half (although it’s tough to live up to that absolutely mesmerizing title cut).  Overall though, this is an outstanding young band and you can’t go wrong with any album you may choose.  Looking forward to what’s in the future from these lads!