“The first thing you notice is a glaring issue with its pacing”: Georgia Thunderbolts fail to rise above it all on second album Rise Above It All

It wasn’t ideal that the Georgia Thunderbolts released their debut album Can We Get A Witness during the pandemic, but it garnered praise for its spirited fusion of Americana and southern rock. 

The first thing you notice about their second album is a glaring issue with its pacing. Gonna Shine opens with moseying, mid-tempo nonchalance, and Rock And Roll Record is a strangely dour, piano-heavy paean to the apparently exhilarating experience of touring and performing in a band. 

Three songs in, the album finally comes to life with the title track’s muscular blues rock. Crawling My Way Back To You is a lovelorn ballad led by TJ Lyle’s sonorous voice. Moments later, on She’s Gonna Get It, he’s wailing about ‘whisky smiles’ and ‘cocaine eyes’ to a backdrop of beefy riffs. 

There’s still plenty of promise, but with the benefit of hindsight this record might have made more sense if the band had figured out exactly where their sound sits.