Wille and the Bandits 'Salt Roots' album review: "Roots-rock with weight, purpose and plenty of Cornish soul"

Wille and the Bandits return with 'Salt Roots', a record that plays straight to their strengths: Big, weighty riffs that hit like a rogue wave in Mount’s Bay. And don't forget that unmistakable slide guitar. It’s beefy roots-rock with an emotional pull, but it’s a record that feels purposeful and beautifully rough-edged

Opener ‘Wheal Jane’ is a claustrophobic blast inspired by Cornwall’s tin mines. It growls and smoulders,  with a slide guitar that cries like metal under strain. Nothing polite about it, it’s edgy, sweaty and cinematic and a perfect start to the album.

'Trouble Round the Bend' soon follows with a hard-hitting protest at polluted rivers. For a band long aligned with social and environmental causes, this is personal. In Cornwall, where sea and river shape everyday life, there's no getting away from the damage to the environment. There's real anger behind the groove of this track. 

At the centre is Will Edwards,  a road-worn songwriter whose wanderlust seeps into everything here. His half-drawn vocals carry grit without overplaying it, while his slide work bends and swells with a dark blues edge. You can hear the miles he’s clocked: from Cuba to the continent and back to Blighty, those globe-trotting influences surfacing in subtle but vital ways throughout the record.

 And throughout the record, Tom Gilkes’ drumming is a genuine highlight. Drawing on the spirit of Mitch Mitchell, John Bonham and Keith Moon, Gilkes plays with power and grace: explosive when needed, subtle when it counts. 

Elsewhere, 'Take My Shoulder' shifts into folk-tinged tenderness, carried by a country-leaning melody and brushwork that whispers rather than shouts. It’s spacious, sincere and nicely judged. 'Style Thing' struts in on a loose ’70s groove, full of swagger and swing. 

Two late-album standouts seal it. ' Stand Up' blows the roof off with full throttle, sharp turns, restless energy. It keeps you guessing and never lets up. Meanwhile, 'Homeward Bound' tackles the pull between life on the road and family without sliding into sentimentality. It’s reflective but grounded, an honest nod to that balancing act.

Ultimately, Salt Roots works because it sounds like a band playing what they believe in. Direct, lived-in songs and big dynamics. You can’t deny the authentic emotion that runs through. It’s a confident, unforced, brilliant album.