The Answer: Sundowners – Northern Irish rockers return with songs that bounce off the walls

Let’s hear it for the musicians who have to shout to make themselves heard. Northern Ireland’s The Answer have been knocking on the doors to international commercial success for more than 20 years, and by the sound of Sundowners (their first album since Solas, from 2016) if it doesn’t do the business they’ll still continue to shake cages.

Appropriately enough, shaking cages is par for the course across the album: despite the familiarity of the music style, the songs rattle along like a runaway train. The cause of the extended delay from 2016 (pandemic aside) was a collective decision to hit the pause button, and as befits a group of musicians and friends who had time away from each other, when they regrouped they returned match ready.

Hard rock, however, is usually viewed with some disdain (or indifference) by contemporary music lovers, and while the music on Sundowners doesn’t deviate from the standard forms established by classic acts such as Deep Purple, Bad Company, Guns N’ Roses, Def Leppard and Whitesnake, there is an energy here that bounces off the walls.

Bolstered by vocalist Cormac Neeson and lead guitarist Paul Mahon, and with a rhythm section as tight as a highwire, songs such as Blood Brother, California Rust, All Together, and Living on the Line hit the hard-rock marks with a baseball bat.