About five and a half years ago, ‘Solas’ completely blew me away. The Answer had always been a good rock band, occasionally great, but they outdid themselves by adding Celtic folk influences and surprisingly atmospheric rock elements to create something truly unique. It would have been difficult, if not downright impossible, to surpass that album. And fortunately, that’s not what the Northern Irish quartet tries to do on ‘Sundowners’. Instead, they went for a far more stripped-down, rootsy bluesrock sound. That may sound like ‘Sundowners’ is The Answer returning to the roots, but the album somehow sounds like nothing the band did before.

For starters, ‘Sundowners’ sounds a lot more American than the decidedly Anglo-Celtic ‘Solas’. In fact, ‘Sundowners’ is probably the closest thing to southern rock The Answer ever released. The exciting blend of hardrock, blues, soul and occasional subtle hints of americana brings to mind The Black Crowes, but The Answer is far more direct, song-oriented and therefore less jam-heavy. In some songs, it is surpising how little prominence there is in the mix for Paul Mahon’s rhythm guitar in favor of a Hammond organ, though Mahon is always somewhere in the background coloring the tracks.

‘Sundowners’ is at its best when it is built upon greasy, dirty soul grooves. Luck would have it that most of the album is just that. ‘Want You to Love’ me is a prime example of this side of the band: if it wasn’t for Mahon’s fairly overdriven electric guitar, the song would not have sounded out of place on a late sixties or early seventies Stax record. ‘Get Back on It’ and ‘Blood Brother’ are so groove-driven that they feel like they could go on forever on stage without getting even the least bit dull. ‘California Rust’ feels a bit more like a typical The Answer rocker, but its loose, swinging rhythm makes it fit the paradigm of ‘Sundowners’ perfectly.

That does not mean there is nothing to enjoy here for people who primarily want to hear The Answer as a rock band. ‘Cold Heart’ is a concise, catchy rocker that could have easily fit on ‘Everyday Demons’, ‘Oh Cherry’ is a nice stomper built on a fantastic bass line by Micky Waters and ‘All Together’ brings Cream at their heaviest to mind. The ballads are every bit as good. ‘No Salvation’ has a bit of a seventies Stones feel, though I’ll personally take Cormac Neeson’s passionate howl over Mick Jagger any day, while closer ‘Always Alright’ is the only track on which the acoustic guitars are as prominent as on ‘Solas’.

Not trying to make a second ‘Solas’ is the smartest decision The Answer could have made. While that would have probably resulted in something that sounds like a watered-down version of a masterpiece, ‘Sundowners’ feels like a fresh take on what The Answer did during their earliest years, albeit notably more rootsy than before. It also shows that as a rock band, you don’t need much more than a bunch of good songs and a bit of confidence, though having a singer as good as Cormac Neeson doesn’t exactly hurt either.

Recommended tracks: ‘Want You to Love Me’, ‘Blood Brother’, ‘Cold Heart’