Zach Williams and The Reformation

In this gig there are sometimes when there is a disk you don’t want to review. Not because it's crap, but because it's so good you want to be able to continue listening to it and not have to move on to the next batch of discs. ZWR fits that category nicely and will come back to my death deck once the summer rays beat down. Think of Black Crowes, if they actually wrote decent tunes of their own. “Stronger” is what the Black Crowes should have sounded like if they spent less time fighting.

This being good-time, southern rock music there is a touch of the blues on the “Angel on a Broken Wing” which features Luther Dickinson. We get some wonderful female vocal touches in other places like “Take Me Home”. Then you have Zach channeling his best Stevie Wonder on “Without You” if he sang southern rock instead of R&B. This is great laid back southern rock blues that seeps from the speakers and just fills your soul with its goodness. Yeah, it's pretty mellow most of the time, but there is still that drive that permeates all that is good from the south whether its Skynrd or the Allman Brothers. More blues than country for sure, but the grittiness still permeates each song.

If you love your southern blues then this is a disc that you need to seek out soonest. Bloody good stuff all around, not one duff track to be had.

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2009/03/05/165257.php - BC Music Magazine

Rating: 8.7 / 10
Posted: March 05, 2009
Author: Bruce Moore

The moment you pop the Electric Revival into your CD player you will immediately be transported back to the Mid-Seventies and when Southern Rock ruled the airwaves. Not only do Zach Williams And The Reformation pay homage to the masters of the genre, (Lynyrd Skynrd, Molly Hatchet and Joe Cocker), but they add their own brand of musicianship making this a refreshing collection of tunes and not just a rehash from the past.

The 70's vibe is present throughout the disc with lots of slide guitars, pianos and traditional unpretentious lyrics that deal with everyday issues in life. The one aspect of this CD that really caught my attention is singer songwriter Zach Williams vocals. The man is fully immersed and emotionally invested in the lyrics; the result is that each of the stories he is telling drip with passion... you almost cannot help but feel what he is feeling.

Electric Revival has a mature feel to it almost as if these guys have been playing together for three decades making it hard to believe that the band was formed only a year ago in 2008. The mucianship and the songwriting on this disc are out of this world.

I really did not find any song on here that I disliked but the two songs that stood out to me as exceptional are the slow burning “Angel With A Broken Wing” and the piano driven “Take Me Home.” Both of these tunes are good examples of the powerful yet extremely expressive vocals of Zach Williams.

Bottom line, this is a really good disc. Zach Williams And The Reformation have put together an enormously soulful collection of tunes that just plain rock. Check them out you will not be disappointed.

http://www.puregrainaudio.com/reviews/zach-williams-and-the-reformation - Pure Grain Audio Review

When we were pompous, ugly, confused little retards in high school, we would have hated this band. At that point in time Southern roots rock represented everything that we hated in our closed-minded little prepubescent world. But times change and people do as well. And these days we're neither ashamed nor afraid to admit that we can get a keen little high off the ballsy southern fried rock provided by Zach Williams and the Reformation (although we still stick to our firm belief that the Allman Brothers were always a crap band). Recorded in Memphis, Tennessee, Electric Revival has a nice, thick, big sound...and these recordings really capture Williams' super deep, resonant, slightly raspy voice. After hearing this album, anyone who ever loved the sound of Lynyrd Skynyrd will probably think they have died and gone to heaven. Loud, bluesy rockers include "Set You Free," "Empty Dreams," and "Take Me Home." Good solid rock music for the masses. (Rating: 4+++++) - LNOP Magazine Review Feb. 2009

The resurging southern rock style of music has made its way into the modern country music format through bands like Crossin' Dixon, River County, etc… However, it is very rare these days that you find a true to the bone southern rock band that doesn't fuse in a bit too much country influence from here or there, until now. Zach Williams and the Reformation prove with their debut album, "Electric Revival" that true to the bone southern rock does still exist. Williams and crew are not on a mission to reinvent the wheel that paved the road before them but rather they stand proudly along side those artists and are essentially one of them, 30+ years or so later than the original movement that set the tone for this genre in the 70's. Right from the start of the album with "Set You Free," you are blessed with harmonies and a rowdy guitar riff that begs to be compared to the likes of the bluesy/rock riffs of the likes of The Allman Brothers. This is a trend that continues to pour out of your speakers as you dive further into the album on tracks like "Can U Feel Me," and "Without You." However, they do bring those solid, slow songs to the forefront as well that lean heavily on the harmonies and lead vocals to hammer home the song as is best displayed on cuts like "Fools Gold" and "Angel With A Broken Wing." If you, like myself are a fan of Skynyrd, Allman, Molly, etc… than you will want to listen to Zach Williams and you are going to feel like you stepped back in time from the first note all the way through to the last.


http://www.guestlistmagazine.net/reviewsw - Review from Guest List Magazine!!!! Feb. 2009