Stone Broken – Revelation (Spinefarm)

Stone Broken? More like Stone Fixed.

Gone are the rough edges, ragged lines and restrictive song structures.

This is Stone Broken reborn.

Bigger, bolder and braver than ever before.

On reflection, the band’s early work suddenly sounds like a rudimentary rite of passage.

Such is Stone Broken’s stunning progression under the watchful eye of producer Dan Weller.

Revelation is robust, risky, riotous and refulgent.

Frontman Rich Moss didn’t want to lose what ‘Stone Broken already had’.

Well, let’s be honest, it’s all but gone.

Consigned to the history books, what Stone Broken had sounds very little like what they have right now.

Revelation clings on to a few remaining remnants of the Ain’t Always Easy era.

But in most respects a brazen new sound is unrecognisable when set against the band’s 2016 debut All In Time.

Remember when Def Leppard made the seismic leap from High N Dry to Pyromania?

Or the time a merciless Metallica unleashed the Black Album on metal’s unsuspecting masses?

This is Stone Broken’s evolutionary moment.

Moss and co. have created a British rock masterwork that will surely pique the interest of audiences across the Pond.

Immersive soundscapes, emo-styled melodies, darkly affecting sweeps of electro-fuelled riffage and Robyn Haycock’s duelling vocals make for a magical experience.

Revelation. It does what it says on the tin.

Stone Broken’s third album is a Revelation

Had Nickelback, Shinedown or Sixx:AM dropped Revelation it would already be revered as a modern rock classic.

That’s the company Stone Broken find themselves in on the back of an album that knocks the band’s previous records out of the park.

Bullish opener Black Sunrise is a beast of a track: Moss leaves nothing behind as he roars his way through a jolting jaw-dropper.

But Revelation is all about the light and shade, the fury and the simmering self-reflection.

The glorious Me Without You might well catapult Wallsall’s finest way beyond their wildest dreams.

It’s a piano-led piece that’s stripped back and up front. 

Moss has rarely sounded so vulnerable as he wraps a clever play on words around a heartfelt ballad that wouldn’t sound out of place mid-morning on Radio Two.

Rope in Luke Combs and the country remix would be streamed millions of times over.

The title track’s addictive dance rock vibe lays the foundation for a sure-fire floor filler.

And with the band about to embark on its UK headline tour next week expect some jostling for position when Revelation revs up.

Stronger — much like the title track — is achingly apt.

Stone Broken have never been in such a powerful position and this cascading fist pumper says it all.

But when Moss screams Gimme Some More on the Crüe-meets-Halestorm set closer that’s exactly what’s needed.

More. Right. Now.

Think you know Stone Broken? Think again.