Brandon Prinzing continues to evolve on ‘Hear This’

Published 12:00 am Thursday, October 11, 2018

Brandon Prinzing & The Old Revival: ‘Hear This’

self-released

Last year, Bend songwriter and former Corner Gospel Explosion guitarist Brandon Prinzing debuted a new band, Riot on a Sunday, and released an eight-song, all-acoustic EP under the same name. That skeletal recording now feels like a prototype for what came next, namely the hard-rocking four piece Brandon Prinzing & The Old Revival. That band will drop its debut album, “Hear This,” on Friday, completing Prinzing’s evolution from barroom folk-rocker to power-pop proselytizer.

The 10-song album was recorded at Rio Grande Studios in Albuquerque, New Mexico, without Prinzing’s band — Underoath drummer and The Almost leader Aaron Gillespie handled production, bass, drums, keyboards, additional guitars and backing vocals, while Prinzing played the rest. But thanks to the clean yet muscular production — and Prinzing’s enthusiastic vocal delivery throughout — tracks such as opener “Nerve” and the riff-filled stomper “Revival” sound as huge and “live” as they should.

Prinzing’s idea behind the “Old Revival” moniker is meat-and-potatoes rock ’n’ roll, but he finds a lot of breathing room within that framework. The title track and “Cheyenne,” a co-write with Gillespie, border on country (at least until the electric guitars kick in); “Petersburg,” with its strummed acoustic and dramatic drumming, feels like a pop-punk spiritual.

And even the most rocking songs, such as the aforementioned, AC/DC-esque “Revival,” are far more introspective than your typical thrashers. Prinzing strikes the best balance between these two impulses on “Bitter Cold” and “Sink,” the album’s standout tracks.

Brandon Prinzing & The Old Revival album release party, with The Jess Ryan Band, Trevor Hanks: 7 p.m. Saturday; $10 plus fees; Domino Room, 51 NW Greenwood Ave., Bend; eventbrite.com or 541-408-4329.

— Brian McElhiney, The Bulletin