As their name suggests, the Neverland Ranch Davidians aren’t afraid of taking elements from popular culture and reshaping them in their own image. Since their formation in 2019, this Los Angeles crew have taken a wide array of musical influences and wound them into a tight ball of high octane rock n’ roll. Proving that their debut album was no fluke (2023’s eponymously-titled effort), the band return with their second long player, Shout It On The Mountain, an explosive collection of 13 (lucky) tracks that takes all which was good about its predecessor and runs wildly towards the future.

Some music immediately grabs you by the private parts and gives a good tug, and that’s certainly the case with opening shot ‘Swamp Feet’. It’s an electrocuted snake of a riff that shocks the system and if anyone was asleep, they aren’t now. Evolving into a groove laden affair which swings with wrecking ball force, this is a sticky thing that sucks the listener in like quicksand and demands you submit to its irresistible force. As with much of this album, ‘Swamp Feet’ is a song in perpetual motion, a mirrored ball that fractures sound in all directions and it is not quite knowing where the band will veer next that makes this such an engaging listen. What follows is a primal blast of rock ‘n’ roll in the shape of ‘Big Bird’, the band become the ultimate editors, removing any excess fat until all that is left is 100% proof alcohol, and the result is as intoxicating as you’d expect. Continually throwing fuel on the fire, Shout It On The Mountain entices those flames higher and higher, they warm the ground and the only option is to move your feet.

Band founder Tex Mosley has a long and storied history in rock and has spent a lifetime mainlining music and he brings all of that experience to this project. His inspirations are so wide and varied that they can’t be unpicked, so whilst ‘The Gripper’ might sound like the unruly offspring of Tad and John Lee Hooker, and ‘I Think I’m Positive’ the unholy alliance between Sonic Youth and Suicide, the results are wholly original. Of course, fusing different genres together is no easy task, fumble the ball and an artist can find themselves in a kind of musical no man’s land with no appreciable audience to play to. The fact that this album sounds so cohesive is due to the chemistry the band share; vocalist and guitarist Tex delivers his words like a demented preacher, a cult leader casting a spell over his congregation. With drummer Max Hagen and guitarist Will Bentley also providing backing vocals, the Neverland Ranch Davidians create a sound that’s far bigger than their constituent parts (Gregory Boaz plays bass on the album, but not live) and it is a combination of individuals that turns the likes on ‘Orphan Boy’ into certified stompers.

Shout It On The Mountain is an album that returns to the original energy of rock ‘n’ roll, and in doing so Neverland Ranch Davidians signpost a bright future.

• Shout It On The Mountain is released via Heavy Medication Records and is available now (from here).
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Track List:

1. Swamp Feet
2. Big Bird
3. The Gripper
4. Signified Monkey
5. Shout It On The Mountain
6. Citizen Junkie
7. Cactus Cooler
8. Don’t Call Me
9. Death Penalty In Texas
10. I Think I’m Positive
11. Orphan Boy
12. Happy
13. Hard Time Killing Floor (Dirty)