Album review Brave Rival – ‘5 To 4’

Rock

Independent Release

Release Date – October 17^th 2025

Review By Smudge Smith

I had never seen or heard Brave Rival until I attended this year’s Call Of The Wild festival. All I knew was that they were considered a blues band with two female singers. I’ve heard enough blues in my life, so I pitched up not expecting much. The first surprise was that they now only have one singer, the utterly superb Lindsey Bonnick; the second surprise, the music may be blues-based, but boy oh boy do they rock!

Don’t believe me – just get a load of the opener ‘Let Me Rock N Roll’, where Ed The Shred shows he has the gift of the riff and Bonnick tells you about yourself, all backed by a rhythm section tighter than a duck’s bum! ‘Poison’ is a steady AC/DC-style rocker where Bonnick sings sweetly and shows her range, then ‘Try Again’ starts with an acoustic, and Bonnick serenades us smoothly, luring us in before Ed The Shred comes in with some red-hot slide guitar, and they ease into it seamlessly. Stunning. Jeez, they change gears on ‘Control’ with a nasty riff that goes into an angry stop-start thing on the verses, then ‘Wild Child’ has Peters rattling out a glam-style pattern, and the rest provide some punchy rock ‘n’ roll that’s bound to get your hips moving.

We get bonus acoustic versions of ‘Poison’, which is absolutely awesome and very different; ‘Control’, which has a southern feel; and a twelve-bar version of ‘Wild Child’.

Oh man, this is great. It’s biting rock n roll that’s well played and shows how well these guys craft a song. Every band relies on a tight rhythm section; Dedman and Peters are totally locked in, Ed The Shred proves he can play any style and play it expertly, and Bonnick has a voice comparable to Heart’s Ann Wilson with the vulnerability of Sandy Denny. The band are off on an extensive UK tour over October/November into December and January, so make sure you catch them.

Track List –

Let Me Rock N Roll

Poison

Try Again

Control

Wild Child

Poison (Acoustic Version)

Control (Acoustic Version)

Wild Child (Acoustic Version)