Old Man's Wil - Hard Times: Troubled Man (2015)

What works so well about Hard Times – Troubled Man is the vigor with which Old Man’s Will carry across its foundation of classic boogie rock. Listening to the unpretentious Swedish four-piece, who capture warm tones in the dark cold of Umeå — a northern town known for being the birthplace of Meshuggah and Refused — they make little attempt to hide their ’70s affinities, their Graveyard influence or their penchant for swinging their way into a memorable hook, but there is a vitality at the core the material that only emphasizes how much the sound of then has become the sound of now. Comprised of eight tracks totaling a manageable 34 minutes, Hard Times – Troubled Man perhaps oversells a sense of melancholy between its cover art and title, but there’s plenty of blues to go around...