THE CADILLAC THREE: The Years Go Fast (2023)

Coming from Nashville, the members of the group were originally in American Band before releasing their first album in 2012, and making a name for themselves in 2016 with the superb Bury me in my boots with very southern accents, before releasing in 2020 two albums in the same year ! The group will, that year on these two albums, engage in very diverse and varied musical trends, oscillating between funk, 70's disco, and always mixed with southern rock. On this new opus, Jaren Johnston, Kelby Kay and Neil Mason are moving towards metal, even punk with certain guitar sounds (for my ears), who say they came out of the Covid period “a little shaken” and that the death of the father of one of them will be very significant. We find an energy on this record, driven by drums and heavy guitars, particularly expressed on “Double wide grave”; we find with pleasure the singer's voice on the powerful "Love like war" and the country-rock "The Torch", while peaks of intensity and writing are, in my opinion, reached on "The Worst" and the superb “Pistols on the Levee”. On "This town is a ghost" and "Go to bed lonely", the writing qualities of Jonshton, who achieved number 1s in the "charts" by signing pieces for other singers or musicians, resurface and these two titles, although excellent, will perhaps not delight fans of the group with their slightly more “commercial” aspect. But in the end, a superb album, which deserves attentive listening, which can be appreciated without musical blinders, without references to the group's past, but which constitutes a beautiful journey in its sonic experimentation and which should, if justice exists, allow it to be recognized for its true value.

Chris MARQUIS