BOWMEN – Mission IV

The German hard rockers known as Bowmen are back with their third full-length album and one that sees them marrying varying influences from 60s blues rock, 70s hard rock, early 90s grunge, and even a bit of alt. rock to good effect. Rooted in the sounds of old yet putting a contemporary spin on things may well be an apt description for what these gentlemen do, and the cool thing about these twelve new tracks is that they contain plenty of light and shade as well as groove and memorable choruses.

With a solid dose of energy and determination they plow through their material and generally deliver a good time, and although there are a few tracks that fail to do the trick and fall by the wayside, the overall result is a satisfying one in that their material contains sufficiently muscular riffs, well-crafted hooks, and strong musicianship to keep one engaged and entertained throughout. The vocals occasionally fail to do the compositions justice in the sense that they do not quite reach the necessary areas and spheres to truly stand out and drive the point home (with “Hold Me Now” and “Still Got My Time” being rather obvious examples of what I am getting at here), but despite there being room for improvement in that department there is plenty on this disc to get excited about, and these guys definitely make it work in the atmospheric “Demons,” the rumbling “Said or Done,” the somewhat emotive “Fight the Tide,” the groove-laden “Rocket Man,” and above all the infectiously catchy “Black Angel.” They could have left out the acoustic rendition of “Hold Me Now” that has been included as a bonus track, though.  

Mission IV is neither essential nor a mandatory purchase as such, but Bowmen perform their tunes with gusto and conjure up numerous interesting ideas that make for an enjoyable listen. That aforementioned tune entitled “Black Angel” truly is a killer piece of rock music.