WISHBONE ASH, CLAN DESTINY CD REVIEW ON ROCK N ROLL UNIVERSE

Legendary British rockers Wishbone Ash return in a big way with 'Clan Destiny', the long awaited follow up to 2002's wonderful 'Bona Fide' album. A collection of songs which expertly shows that even over 35 years on, these rock veterans have what it takes to come up with what amounts to a strong effort that's sure to become a new classic to be treasured by Ash fans everywhere.

The album kicks off with "Eyes Wide Open", a chugging, driving rocker, featuring a great dual lead guitar break between Andy Powell and Finnish newcomer Muddy Mannenin that's sure to become a staple in the Ash canon. One pleasant surprise evident right off is the fact that founding member Powell’s vocals are stronger and pushed to the fore. From this beginning the band goes in a slightly mellower direction on “Dreams Outta Dust,” with its harmony vocals still instantly identifying this as Ash. “Healing Ground” and “Steam Town” pick up the pace once more, albeit in a more Southern rock direction, the interlocking guitars reminiscent of The Allman Brothers, and is a nice change of direction indeed. “Loose Change” recalls Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac with dream-like slide guitar, the dual lead work working impeccably. Other highlights include the album’s sole instrumental, “Surfing A Slow Wave,” which at under 4 minutes is concise compared to earlier standards. A Shadows go south of the border sounding track, this is uncharacteristic, but it does work. Powell shows his blues roots with a sublime cover of the traditional spiritual “Motherless Child” which ends the record on a high note.

While this isn't 'Argus' it wasn't meant to be. What you do have here is a band that nearly 40 years on still has the talent to put out quality music. Some may bemoan the largely absence here of extended, “epic” length instrumentals which have become a trademark of sorts of the band, what you do get are solidly crafted songs which grow ever stronger upon repeated listenings.
The bottom line is that this is a first rate offering from a band whom amazingly just keeps on going strong despite lineup changes, and is one which is certainly recommended. 8/10
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