Honeymoon Cowboys – Still! (Track & Traces/Starman Records)

English:CD-review
  Van Muylem    9 mei 2016

It’s their debut album, but it’s not like they are newbies. To start with the singer: Tom Van Troyen (Spiral of Silence), I follow this guy for over years! In the past he sounded more like Joy Division and was already back than backed up by Antonio Palermo on guitar. You know Antonio from the legendary cold wave pearl Siglo XX. Other members of the band are: Kris Dries (bass/guitar), Klaas Hoogerwaard (drums) and Thomas François (keyboards and guitar).


Yup, it’s a band from Belgium and a bloody good one! The band split up in 1991 and not so long ago Honeymoon Cowboys decided to make a comeback (under their new name) and compose some new tracks whilst on stage finally gave life to the old treasures from Siglo XX!  I must say that I almost wanted to become a singer myself thanks to the lived through, dark, melancholic and very emotional vocalist. Even after their split I still play their songs! It’s within this spirit that I received the CD with an emotional outburst!

The first 5 tracks are studio tracks, the other ones are from their gig at the Eurorock Festival 2015, so that you can get a taste of how they sound on stage (and it’s really worth it).

Time is not Our Friend sounds a bit like a neofolk (Tony Wakeford) track meets Siglo XX, Tindersticks and Nick Cave. It’s a dark and soft emotional track where the acoustic guitar and the piano renders perfectly the powerful vocals. From the start you get sucked into the hypnotic darkness. It’s one of my favorite tracks on the album! More happiness comes with Still (a song for V.) and yes that one really sounds like Nick Cave track (so if you are looking for a Nick Cave cover band ask these folks)! Listen a bit to There she goes, my beautiful world (from Abattoir Blues). Sea without Mercy sounds like Nick Cave in perfect shape calling upon his darkest demons mixing Neofolk and dark wave whilst sitting on The Mercy Seat! Feel the energy, feel and live upon the pathos and the passion for darkness and danger! This one is simply finger licking good! It’s a born classic! Everything on Fire is a re-arranged and re-recorded Siglo XX classic one, rendering the cold passion for the past! I feel they can do the same thing with the complete discography of the band, giving us the 2016 version! Broken Men is the second radio track (next to the title track). The piano has an important part, just as the vocals. I even hear some classic instruments and a great bass. The hypnotic sound drags you deeper into their sound, so make sure you don’t have any dark thoughts or it might be too late! Still, you get a message that gives you a bit of hope. It’s the big bang that closes the studio recordings session! I loved it and can’t wait to get more of this!

A lot of people need to be aware of their stage feel! As I already said: it’s absolutely worth it! When the sky paints blue, Up on the Hill, Closed Souls and Broken Men already sound like classic tracks and will for sure grow out to more than that! It’s clear that they work perfectly together and found the perfect vocalist! They end with 3 classic Siglo XX tracks (I just miss Sister Suicide): The Pain Came, No One Is Innocent and as last one Waiting for a Friend. It’s just the perfect end!

I can’t say it enough: I hope to see them soon enough on stage! Start booking them, start discovering them, buy the CD and support them as they are simply unbeatable within their genre and already too much artist have past away over the last year!