Drive like Maria

Broken hearts, lonely deserts, black horses and first blow-jobs. Dutch/Belgian rockers Drive like Maria return with a bang with their long awaited second album that reaches so much further, musically and thematically than their much appraised debut album, Elmwood.

2012 brings two sides of Drive like Maria to the light. We hear the trusted monster that roared into the musical climate in 2009 with Im on a Train, but also a band looking for deepening, enrichment and the next step. Thus Drive like Maria welcomes new band member, monster drummer: Bram van den Berg. With his arrival Drive like Maria becomes a complete band existing besides Bram of singer/guitar player Bjorn Awouters, guitarist Nitzan Hoffmann and bassplayer Robin van Saaze.

The band relocated to Italy where they built a studio and recorded and produced the album themselves. The new location and studio brought the band the sense of freedom they needed to create and finish new material. The thematics of the complete and more mature band revealed themselves. The album , appropriately named Drive like Maria, tells of traveling, looking ahead and the constant urge to renew themselves.

Does the additional band member mean that theres more room for noise? Yes and no. Like on Elmwood theres no way of ignoring the bands typical guitarrock sound, but the album doesnt lack subtlety and true songs. Bury My Heart in The Desert and On The Road, including gently weeping guitars make up for the two ballads of the album. Even more temptation is hidden in Howl, a duet with femme fatale Lara Chedraoui of Belgian band Intergalactic Lovers. Dont ask too much too soon, I will be breaking your heart in the afternoon she sighs together with Awouters. It shows the state of mind of Drive like Maria in their current state. Sexy and at its time introvert, but still ruthless when it needs to be.

You get the point; we could talk for hours about the new Drive like Maria album but its better to listen to it. The album shows that the Belgian-Dutch four-piece is ready for the next step. Its only a matter of time before the clubs will be steaming and the festival sites will be burning up again. In the past the band already played festivals like Pukkelpop, Lowlands, SXSW, NXNE and Bospop and the band opened for AC/DC, ZZ Top and Motorhead. A start, but not quite half the work yet. Its to be clear, before the end of 2012 well see Drive like Maria become what we secretly knew they could be, the lowlands favorite rockband.

The songs have imminent verses and delivering chorusses; Howl and Where the Brokenhearted Go ask to be sung along loudly by the audiences at the Summer festivals. ....its a band to nourish!

**** 4/5 NRC daily newspaper

Drive like Maria is more varied, layered and more exciting. But the real profit has been gained in writing prodigious songs. A splendor work.

MusicMaker

***** 5/5

Too Short! Way Too shot! Every time the new Drive like Maria album comes to an end, its the only thought going through my mind. With eleven tracks and a length of about fourty-five minutes it might seem that the album is long enough, but when the last track Bury My Heart in The Desert has ended, youre happy with the existence of the replay - button. ..... Even the lesser songs are so exciting and catchy that this album could have lasted for hours longer.

**** 4/5 Revolver