Despite the highlight of their career being a fun if orthodox cover of The Vapors' "Turning Japanese," Donegal trio The Revs once looked to be rising stars on the Irish scene, even being voted third best Irish band by Hotpress readers in 2003. After hitting a brick wall in 2006 they declared "an indefinite break," compelling frontman Rory Gallagher to pursue the greener pastures of solo artist-hood.
Understandably shortening his name to avoid confusion with his namesake, Mr. Gallagher's solo debut takes quite a detour from the energetic pop-punk of his former ensemble. A collection of mostly heartfelt ballads and simple guitar tunes, at times God Bless the Big Bang veers dangerously close to boyband material and at others to granny-friendly function room party territory, as in the chorus of End of the World Boogie with its overused and clichéd sentiment. Even its rockiest offering, It's Not Great On Yer Own, is more poor man's White Stripes impersonation than rock'n'roll jam.
Rory can adapt his vocal quality depending on the character of the song - the soft tone he combines with these gentle, meandering tunes leads now to a sound less like The Revs than contemporaries Picture House. Still it's not an album without a few interesting references. Happy Medium owes much to eastern-influenced Sgt. Pepper era Beatles before it reverts back to a standard guitar pop chorus with mismatched country features. Easily the most intriguing track, Wake House sees Rory take a slightly more experimental turn; with no chorus to speak of, its ambient approach, complete with bongo drum, is reminiscent of the quieter moments of Elbow.
On the whole though, God Bless the Big Bang lacks charisma, leaving Rory as yet another to add to Ireland's ever increasing stockpile of unremarkable singer/songwriters.
