Buffalo Summer - Second Sun album review

Style and no little substance.

Buffalo Summer Second Sun album cover

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They might come from South Wales, but Buffalo Summer hit the blues notes with all the confidence of musicians who grew up right in the heartland of the sound. Maybe it’s the influence of producer Barrett Martin, but this is a genuinely convincing romp through the blues.

Guitarist Jonny Williams has a low-slung attitude in his approach that takes in some slide action yet also has a lot of beef. This is matched by Andrew Hunt’s carousing vocal style. When it all coalesces, as on Light Of The Sun or Into Your Head, it has the authenticity of Black Crowes meets Rival Sons. There’s a jaunty, graceful air to the Buffalo gait that really makes this a shining performance.

Malcolm Dome

Malcolm Dome had an illustrious and celebrated career which stretched back to working for Record Mirror magazine in the late 70s and Metal Fury in the early 80s before joining Kerrang! at its launch in 1981. His first book, Encyclopedia Metallica, published in 1981, may have been the inspiration for the name of a certain band formed that same year. Dome is also credited with inventing the term "thrash metal" while writing about the Anthrax song Metal Thrashing Mad in 1984. With the launch of Classic Rock magazine in 1998 he became involved with that title, sister magazine Metal Hammer, and was a contributor to Prog magazine since its inception in 2009. He died in 2021