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THE MILESTONES
Higher Mountain – Closer Sun

Listenable (2014)
Rating: 8.5/10

How about a slice of some good ol’ fashioned rock ’n’ roll? Okay then ladies and gentleman, I introduce Finland’s The Milestones; a Helsinki-based act consisting of Olavi Tikka (vocals / harmonica), Tomi Julkunen (guitar), Marko Kiviluoma (guitar), Veli Palevaara (bass) and Tommi Manninen (drums).

There are times in one’s life when you just want to pour yourself an alcoholic drink, sit back and inhale some decent, stripped back, hip shaking rock, and The Milestones provide such a feast – serving up a cocktail of The Black Crowes, AC/DC, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blackfoot and just about every other born to boogie booze ’n’ roll band. It’s as infectious as a sexually transmitted disease and won’t stop even after the bar is shut, but this is one party you just won’t want to leave whatever the consequences.

The Milestones have been around for a bit, recording their debut opus, Vol. 1, in 1996 when the harsh reality was that the music world wasn’t ready for another stripped back act of such energy ’n’ soulful sleaze. Even so, The Milestones impressed a good many and fuelled by a few bottles of whiskey they flew to New York to record another outing (Souvenirs) in 1999, although things didn’t seem to go to plan and it would be ten years before the next album, 2009’s Devil In Me, would surface.

It’s certainly been a while, but it’s good to have the boys back with album number four, another swaggering belter of an opus that comes rushing out of the blocks with the hip ‘Walking Trouble’; a fiery, stompin’ sleazeball of a rocker featuring a killer vocal drool hinting at AC/DC’s legendary Bon Scott and a bar-room crash, bang, wallop pumped by wheezy harmonica and rattling percussion. Hey, it’s the most basic ingredients for a rock ’n’ roll good time; nothin’ fancy, just no frills, straight from the heart high octane ballsy rock but it’s catchy as hell and impossible to put down.

The harmonica makes itself known again with the plodding ‘Shalalalovers’ where Olavi Tikka’s vocals rise with ease above the flickering flames of that guitar twang, hinting at classic sleaze metal and boogie down nodding. It’s no surprise that these guys have appeared on stage with the likes of Whitesnake, Raging Slab, and D.A.D.; their sound evokes images of so many blues and boogie-based bands as that Southern influence litters the glorious strut of ‘Drivin’ Wheel’ and the simmering ‘Oh My Soul’, which features a smoking guitar vibe.

And the theme continues throughout and yet never once does the experience become formulaic. The Milestones somehow have a knack for churning out big, anthemic choruses (again, ‘Oh My Soul’), jabbing chunks of bluesy fire (‘Sweet Sounds’) and subtle sways (‘Looking Back For Yesterday’). Okay, so while I prefer the more drunken, staggering party rock of the Faces, The Milestones take elements of The Black Crowes but make it more organic, and less stadium rock, hinting at the great American rock bands of the 70s. While some may smirk in mocking fashion at such unoriginality, one needs to kick back, relax and take in a puff of Higher Mountain – Closer Sun to truly appreciate the God given talent of these guys because they’ve just restored my faith in a world where revival seems to be the key for so many; in this case The Milestones have come up trumps, sounding at once genuine and clearly confident enough to believe in good ol’ rock ’n’ roll.

Neil Arnold

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