Screamin’ At The Sky is the new and eighth album from Kentucky’s finest, Black Stone Cherry. Since 2014’s Magic Mountain, the band have chosen to produce all their own albums and it’s a delight to hear that they have continued this trend with this latest record simply because sitting in the producer’s chair is clearly something they are so damn good at. Ahead of the album’s release, fans were treated to tracks such as Nervous, a heavy riff-laden affair with occasional sedate guitars in the verse which hint at the honesty and vulnerability presented lyrically. The title track followed in July, which with it’s building intro is absolutely the perfect song to open the record. But again it’s the lyrics, which present almost a protest against life’s injustices, that take it from ‘great’ to ‘simply outstanding’. And just a few days before the album hit the stores, Black Stone Cherry gave us When The Pain Comes, a track which provides it’s uplifting and empowering message ‘I’m not broken, I just noticed sometimes we take it too far to find who we are’, a statement we may all may wish to reflect on when we need to press the reset button on darker thoughts. The point is that these 3 tracks created a huge amount of anticipation and expectation for the Screamin’ At The Sky - and this album 100% delivers. It’s 12 tracks collectively carry forward Black Stone Cherry’s DNA for down-tuned guitars, powerful vocals and harmonies, but most of all it’s about great songwriting which focuses on subjects that matter, subjects of substance and subjects that we shouldn’t be frightened to talk about. Earlier this year, Black Stone Cherry embarked upon a co-headlining arena tour of the UK, and it’s incredible to think that they are back so soon to play 8 UK and Ireland dates, this time in surprisingly small venues that all sold out within 1 hour of tickets going on sale. Rock Today Caught up with Black Stone Cherry in Birmingham between shows to ask them what it meant to be back in the UK as they release their incredible new album Screamin At The Sky.  

Ben Wells (Guitar) – It’s an honour – every time! We definitely appreciate the fans being here.

John Fred Young (Drums) - It’s been a great tour and we are doing some smaller rooms which is awesome. We do enjoy the smaller shows. Anywhere is awesome, whether it’s doing arenas or doing the small stuff, but the smaller venues, it’s more intimate. That’s what’s fun about it! We played a show last night in Sheffield and we haven’t played there since 2007, so it was wild going back there!

Screamin’ At The Sky is available now. To find out more, head over to www.blackstonecherry.com and in the meantime, enjoy the video to Nervous below.