Fifth on the Floor’s sophomore album Dark and Bloody Ground is loaded with fantastic songs, including the Skynyrd-influenced rocker “Hell if I Know” and the haunting “Distant Memory Lane” — which deserves, and will probably get, its own installment. But for me, the Southern soul of “The Fall” is the strongest link in this Kentucky quartet’s chain.
If you want soul and feeling, you’ve got a load of it here. Singer Justin Wells growls out the verses with just as much Otis Redding and Ray Charles as country twang. From that first guttural, “My lord, my lord” before the music kicks in, you feel it all the way down to the soles of your feet. Then the melancholy, bluesy sounds of the band come in to punctuate Wells’ tormented, troubled vocals.
After the first verse, we get a tasty little piano piece that wouldn’t have been at all out of place on a recording by one of those great aforementioned Southern soul singers. After the second verse, a little rock ’n’ roll rears its ugly head with a smooth, flowing guitar solo that puts me in mind of the classic Pink Floyd sound. Then they bring it back home with a final run through the chorus, Wells delivering it like a country preacher, and a sudden ending that leaves you wanting more.
Through the course of Fifth on the Floor’s two albums, you’ll find a wide range of sounds, from straight-up country and Americana to Skynyrd-style hard rockers and Allman Brothers-type jams. They can rock your ass off or leave you in a puddle of emotion, sometimes in the same song, and they’re a band that deserves far more attention than they get.
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