Highly Suspect, Summertime Voodoo | Song Review 🎵

Rock band Highly Suspect ‘rock TF out’ on the six-and-a-half minute “Summertime Voodoo,” the promo single and opening track from their fifth studio album.

Question: Is Johnny Stevens Highly Suspect? Well, Stevens is the lead vocalist for the Grammy-nominated rock band 😝. One badass dude, the tatted rock star brings the heat on “Summertime Voodoo”. “Summertime Voodoo” is the opener from the band’s fifth studio album, As Above, So Below (arrives July 19, 2024). Notably, Stevens criticized the band’s previous album, the Midnight Demon Club. So, As Above, So Below should be bigger and better. The album version of “Summertime Voodoo” runs six-and-a-half minutes in duration. There is an edit that plays better as a single, running well under four minutes. 

“Summertime voodoo / Strange vibrations here / Just crashed my motorcycle / And I still have no fear.” Wow – I’d be scared AF in that situation, Johnny! Anyways, “Summertime Voodoo” rocks.  I mean, that is the expectation for a rock band 🤘.  What makes it rock? Stevens’ clear, commanding vocals play a sizable role. His sound isn’t always clean – he also brings that grimy, gritty sound. Clear or gritty, Stevens has some sweet, tuneful melodies to work within the verses.  The lyrics are ear-catching and at times, dark (“‘Boy, go hug your father / Then kill yourself today’”.  He’s apologetic and regretful in the second verse – “I’m sorry Miss Jackson…” The varied choruses are a highlight:

“Hey, ‘cause no one’s coming, no, no

To save my soul, eh

I can’t keep running, no, hey

I’m getting too old.”

Word.  The outro is intriguing too, with Steven characterizing himself as “a carbureted suicide machine / I am the rocker / I am the roller / I am the out-of-controller / I’m the Nightrider, baby.” Besides the vocals and lyrics, the backdrop is rad too. Instrumentally, the distorted guitar carries lots of weight.  The riffs are superb, and the guitar solos go hard.  Furthermore, a Nice dash of organ ups the ante.  Nothing highly suspect about this sick Highly Suspect song, “Summertime Voodoo”.  Rock TF on, Johnny 🤘!

Highly Suspect // As Above, So Below // Roadrunner // 7.19.24

Highly Suspect, Summertime Voodoo [📷: Brent Faulkner/The Musical Hype; Roadrunner; Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Królestwo Nauki, OpenClipart-Vectors, Pete Linforth, Tumisu from Pixabay]