THE JUDGE - Tell It To The Judge
We may be well past the saturation point for all things retro - music or otherwise - but with a little patience, the true gems will reveal themselves. Granite City, IL natives The Judge are an emerald garden in a forest of boring shale. The 'stoner rock' tag seems to attach itself to anything lighter than sludge and doom in our current climate, but The Judge are more than surf and skate riffs (not that there's anything wrong with that). They are a rock band in the purest sense, drawing a straight line back to American godfathers like Blue Cheer, Sir Lord Baltimore and Grand Funk Railroad. Ironically, many of their current sonic brethren are usually found overseas (Kadavar, Graveyard, Witchcraft, etc.) but their label Ripple Music - which should be well known to any B&S reader at this point - has an uncanny knack for finding the best underground rock bands Uncle Sam has to offer.
The Judge
Musically the band hits all the right spots, from soulful Tommy Bolin-esque leads ("High Flyin'") to spirited rhythm section workouts ("Strange Ways"). Vocalist Tyler Swope ties the whole thing together like a hundred of the Dude's rugs; a classic rock singer in every sense of the word, he carries the emotional heft of a Paul Rodgers while maintaining a strong, central presence on faster jams ("Changing World") and swaggering rockers like album closer "Parade Of Sin".
Tell It To The Judge comes barely a year after the band's eponymous full-length debut. If they can keep this kind of quality consistent, The Judge will definitely find themselves at the top of the rock court. Check out the infectious leadoff track "Empty Halls" below.
