Great Western Valkyrie is the fourth studio album by American rock band Rival Sons. The album, which is the first to feature new bass player Dave Beste, was released in June 2014. It garnered positive reviews from critics who praised the band's musicianship in recapturing late 60s hard rock. Great Western Valkyrie peaked within the top 40 of countries like Finland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK, and spawned three singles: "Electric Man", "Open My Eyes" and "Good Things". To promote the record, the band toured across Europe and North America with appearances at music festivals and talk shows.
Promotion
On April 14, 2014, the band announced that they planned four tour dates in the UK to promote Great Western Valkyrie on its release date, beginning with London's Scala club and finishing at Manchester's Gorilla club. On October 17, they made their UK television debut performing "Electric Man" on Later... with Jools Holland. On December 17, they announced a 22-city spring 2015 tour in Europe, starting at Leeds Academy in the UK and ending at the Schüür concert hall in Lucerne, Switzerland, with some appearances at music festivals like Monsters of Rock. They followed that up with an 18-city North American tour, beginning with Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre and finishing at Vancouver's Commodore Ballroom. On September 10, 2015, they toured with Black Sabbath as one of the opening acts of their farewell The End Tour.
Critical reception
Max Bell of Classic Rock critically lauded the album, giving high praise to the band's pension for "hardcore rock music with clever lyrics, brilliant guitar playing and superb vocals." Carl Purvis of No Ripcord commented on the band's musicianship throughout the record, finding bassist Dave Beste's chemistry with drummer Michael Miley "every bit as conversant as the original pairing", praising the trademark grooves created by guitarist Scott Holiday's "endless conveyor belt of pulverizing riffs" and being impressed by Jay Buchanan's vocal performance for having "the range of Chris Cornell and the soul of Bill Withers." AllMusic's Thom Jurek also praised the musicians for crafting tracks with various aesthetics that are influenced by their "worship of late-'60s psych, blues-rock, and hard rock", concluding that "Great Western Valkyrie continues to revel in retro-rock, but it does so with fine songwriting, arrangements, and -- above all -- taste added to the instrumental firepower. Combined, these strengths make this a full step up from Head Down."
Chart performance
Great Western Valkyrie charted within the top 40 of several countries, surpassing what Head Down achieved. The album debuted at numbers three and five in Finland and Norway respectively, ten and nine spots higher than their previous album. It also debuted at numbers 12 and 14 in Switzerland and the UK respectively. However, it fared less better in Austria, the Netherlands and France, entering at numbers 41, 55 and 60 respectively for one week.
Track listing
All lyrics by Jay Buchanan, except "Destination on Course", by Scott Holiday. In parentheses are the songs' subtitles which feature on the back cover of the album sleeve.
