It's been two years ago since the last studio album was released, the leader David Eugene Edwards has instead both recorded and toured his first solo album, and this new album contains only four own songs. You inevitably get the feeling that Sixteen Horsepower travels at half speed.

But even at half speed this trio beats most bands on the present bloodless rock scene. Admittedly there are a lot of young rascals shaking electric guitars right now, but there are few musicians that inject feeling into rock music and truly leave songs in our consciousness. Edwards has the infallible capacity to get into the lyrics and evoke emotions so strong that you have no chance of escape

And even when the arrangements this time are more sophisticated and rely more on suggestive tones then on pure power, the whole is filled with intensity. Regardless whether it is Hank Williams, the Hungarian folk music group Muzsikas, a very old Cajun-mazurka or a sparkling homemade song like “Blessed Persistence”, we can feel it. This band freezes the blood in yours veins and draws your teeth, without anaesthesia. And nobody raises his voice.

4 wasps (out of 5)