KORITNI: Welcome To The Crossroads (HARD ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Between its guitarist (Eddy Santacreu), its manager (Sam Prévot) and its successive labels (Bad Reputation and Verycords for this new opus), the links making Koritni the most French of the Australian bands are not lacking, especially as the quintet regularly scours all the places in France in which a band can decently play. However, when one compares the notoriety of band of the beautiful Lex and that of its compatriots of Airbourne, there is what to wonder if this attachment to our country does not turn to the handicap. At the time when Koritni releases its 5th album (the 3rd studio, against only 2 for the combo of the O'Keeffe brothers), it is likely that this relative injustice will finally end.

Indeed, with this "Welcome To The Crossroads", our Aussie cousins strike a great blow. Once again produced by Lex himself, mixed by the inescapable Mike Fraser and superbly illustrated by Mark Wilkinson (Iron Maiden, Judas Priest...), this new opus succeeds in the improbable feat of rising to an even higher level, whereas "Game Of Fools" was already worth its weight in kangaroo steaks. The production is here more powerful, dynamic and lets each instrument breathe as it deserves, while a bunch of prestigious guests came to cross swords with the masters of the place. Jeff Scott Soto shares the vocals with Lex on the irresistible single "Down At The Crossroads", Rusty Brown (Electric Mary) on the scathing "Better Off Dead", and Jeff Waters throws some incendiary solos on the catchy "TV's Just A Medium", each one of them bringing an added value to the album.

Koritni imposes his mixture of what the Australian Rock did of better by adding new influences. We think of AC/DC in the riffs ("TV's Just A Medium"), of Rose Tattoo (the slide of "Down At The Crossroads"), of Jimmy Barnes (the melodic "Lost For Words") or of The Angels (the galloping riff of "Sydney In The Summertime"), without these references ever going beyond the stage of influences digested in an affirmed identity. But Lex and his band also show a renewed inspiration by including new Funky elements ("Party's Over"), urban Jazz-Blues (the break of the disillusioned mid-tempo "Money Talks, It Says Goodbye"), or Country (the intro of "Take It Like A Man"), and they even successfully tackle the tricky exercise of the ballad by proposing a successful electric rereading of "Hold On", a track already present in an acoustic version on "No More Bets". We will also quote "Sometimes", a 7 minutes long epic whose structure in two parts, heavy at first before a brutal acceleration, will remind "Tornado Dreaming". And finally, we will also pay tribute to Chris Brown whose powerful and dynamic playing propels each composition. Taking advantage of a production that highlights him more than in the past, he settles down alongside metronomes of the level of Phil Rudd, Joey Kramer or Mikkey Dee. "Let's Go Crazy" will convince the most reluctant.

Here is an amazing album which marries with class the immediacy of the catchy choruses, the power and the velocity of a formidable pair of guitarists, the superb feeling and the technique of a singer to be classified among the greatest of the circuit, and the multiple details which allow new discoveries with each passage on the turntable. If the question arises as to how Koritni still manages to produce an album better than the previous one, we would advise you not to think too much about this mystery and to dive into the listening of this "Welcome to the Crossroads". - Official website

KORITNI

WELCOME TO THE CROSSROADS

VERYCORDS

HARD ROCK