Dirty Honey – Dirty Honey

The 2010s saw a major resurgence in 70s style hard rock. The first of these bands to breakout was Rival Sons, who despite their growing popularity, never did much for me. The biggest of this wave is Greta Van Fleet, with their once entertaining, but now tired, Led Zeppelin schtick. But the best hard rock band to come out in the last decade, hands down, is Dirty Honey. Their 2019 self titled EP came out of nowhere and rightfully took the world by storm. “When I’m Gone” topped the rock charts, while “Rolling 7’s” peaked at #3. All this from a band without a record deal.

Considering the newfound astronomical success of bands like The Struts, Ghost, and the aforementioned Greta Van Fleet, I’m sure any number of major labels were dying to sink their chops into Dirty Honey. That’s why I commend this LA based quartet for sticking to their guns and releasing their debut full length the same way they released the EP: independent. I can’t blame them for such a move. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Besides, if the music is anywhere near the top quality of the EP, it’ll sell itself. But is it? The short answer is yes. For those too lazy to read the rest of this review, you’re welcome and have a nice weekend. For those interested in what lies within Dirty Honey’s debut album, read on.

Since Zeppelin is the de facto hard rock band, normies immediately started drawing comparisons between them and Dirty Honey. There are some Zeppelinisms in Dirty Honey’s sound, though not nearly as blatant as GVF (few could be). No, for anyone who’s knowledge of hard rock goes beyond regurgitated rock radio playlists, Dirty Honey is much more similar in style and approach to Humble Pie than Zeppelin. Close your eyes and you’d be forgiven for thinking singer Marc Labelle was the late great Steve Marriott. For all intents and purposes, Labelle may as well be the reincarnation of Marriott.

Whereas Zeppelin’s signature brand of hard rock drew exclusively from the blues, Humble Pie’s had much more in common with R&B and soul. The same can be said for Dirty Honey. I almost made the mistake of describing cuts like “The Wire” and “Tied Up” as “funky”, but they lack the dirt (no pun intended) and grime of funk. They do however boast the retro swinging groove of early 60s R&B, played through a filter of unadulterated rock n’ roll. Some tracks do lean more on the blues than rhythm (“California Dreamin'”), while others lean on loud, shout along choruses that are bound to get radio airplay this summer (“No Warning”). Closing it all out is the closest thing Dirty Honey can write to a ballad, “Another Last Time”. This is no commercial wimpout. “Another Last Time” is sweet, soulful, and melodic, yet still a hard rocker at its core.

Dirty Honey is the full package. They’ve got a soaring singer, big, beefy riffs, scorching guitar solos, and a four on the floor rhythm section who holds it all down. Whereas their peers try so hard to make records that sound like they could’ve been recorded in 1972, Dirty Honey does so effortlessly. In fact, the average rock listener would probably think this record was recorded in 1972. That’s not a bad thing. The 21st century can keep their compressed production, yarling vocals, Line 6 tone, and active rock radio crapola. I’ll gladly take the warm, sizzling sounds of Dirty Honey instead.

9 out of 10

Label: Independent

Genre: Hard Rock

For fans of: Humble Pie, Led Zeppelin, Rival Sons