"In among the messy tangle of human souls, Rival Sons prove there is always room for the light to get in": Lightbringer album review

Californian rockers Rival Sons follow up the release of Darkfighter earlier this year with an exploration of those emotions we are prone to burying. Mercy explores the kinetic nature of anger alongside Redemption, declaring: ‘trauma hides what it doesn’t destroy’.

The opening track links the record with its ’sister’ in an explosive, almost nine-minute epic, decrying: ‘I wanna be a darkfighter, lightbringer till the end’, although for all the emotional angst, archetypal Rival Sons does prevail.

Sweet Life injects a dark groove into your bones but leaves enough room for Jay Buchanan’s lung-singeing vocals. Closing a record that scoops out the grit of human emotion and handles it at uncomfortably close range, Mosaic is the crack in the clouds, concluding that ‘the broken pieces fit together’.

In among the messy tangle of human souls, Rival Sons prove there is always room for the light to get in.