Eliza Neals - Thunder in the House, album review

 

An Enduring Story

I first came across the outstanding bluesrock vocal of Eliza Neals in 2015, her album Breaking and Entering making my top twenty for that year. 

 

 

This album – released 26.3.26 – is a decade later of the same Detroit infused strength and substance, sustaining the earlier qualities that so impressed and adding a strata of skilled production and new players. Third track Blues Bombshell lays the template for the album’s fine songwriting and blues heart. Fourth All Alone displays a matured vocal range, and fifth Locked Up presents those vocals layered in obvious production expertise. But the driving force is the singing itself: strong and soulful and sassy. Title track and closer Thunder in the House is swelled with atmospheric reverb and brooding momentum where Neals’ voice is again echoed and harmonized over sultry guitar rhythms, licks and slide, all building in a heated storytelling.

Over the years of this blog (and my life!) I listen to as much music as ever, but write about this significantly less, so it’s great to be prompted to now express my appreciation for Eliza Neal’s latest. In an industry that has always been hard, and where artists/bands rely on performance – so badly affected by covid and the ongoing competitive nature of the Art – true class endures.

 

 

 

To read my earlier reviews of Neal’s work got here; for more info on Neal’s history/bio, the production and player profiles, and to purchase, go here.