Stuck Mojo, the band from Atlanta, Georgia has known several ups and downs during their career. During the mid-nineties they delivered some great crossover albums with Snappin' Necks and Rising. Finally it turned out that Stuck Mojo didn’t have their final breakthrough. Probably because of the usual label problems and addictions in the band. So when the band broke up in 2001 it wasn’t really big news. Rich Ward, who is the only remaining member of Stuck Mojo, did bring the band back together in 2005 just to relive the good old times. Sadly it didn’t turn out well and again Stuck Mojo was facing the end. Luckily Rich Ward wouldn’t let that happen again and found some other bandmembers to play with.

 

I have to admit I always liked Stuck Mojo very much but when they released their previous album, Southern Born Killers, it was still very hard for me not to hear Bonz spitting his way throughout the album. Especially since the new vocalist Lord Nelson didn’t have the right spit that lifted the album to another level. So in the end I was pretty bombed out by that album. Luckily, since several weeks, their latest album is spinning many circles in my CD-player.

 

After a rather useless intro called ‘Worshipping A False God’, the album kicks in with ‘15 Minutes Of Fame’ which instantly reminds me of the Rising album. Rich Ward has some great melody lines that are filled up with the vocals of Lord Nelson. Still not as spitty as Bonz but the flow is almost phenomenal. In the next song, ‘Friends’, there’s this great southern vibe present. The vocals of Cristy Cook, who was also on the previous album, are really a contribution to this song. During ‘The Flood’ it’s a doomy heavy riff that controls the entire song.

 

So within three songs I’ve heard 3 different types of Stuck Mojo, which leaves me only one conclusion. The band took their own sound and added a lot of other influences to the music. Of course a risky thing to do and I believe that there are Stuck Mojo fans who will hate this album, but I got to give Rich Ward the credits. Almost every song on the album has a great groove and vibe in it and the other influences are a great addition to the music of Stuck Mojo.

 

Well, did Stuck Mojo sell out and become real softies? Hell no!! With ‘15 Minutes Of Fame’, ‘The Fear’ and ‘The Flood’, there’s some good old Rich Ward riffing. But the album offers so much more than just the standard riffing and spitting lyrics. With the addition of Cristy Cook on several tracks and the different influences, they created a really great album that will end up in my yearlist.

 

The Great Revival, personally I can't think of a better title for this album.