Fifteen years is a long time to wait for one of rock-and-roll’s most beloved acts to release new music. But The Black Crowes operate on their own timeline, in their own universe —and fans have certainly reaped the benefits. Their new album, chronicled in Relix’s March 2024 cover story, is a blast. Happiness Bastards—the band’s first set of new songs since 2009’s Before the Frost… Until the Freeze—finds The Black Crowes doing exactly what we hoped they would, knocking out big, brash Southern rock gems driven by Chris Robinson’s elastic, wailing vocals and Rich Robinson’s muscular, furious guitar lines. Happiness Bastards opens with a gust of hot air; those instantly recognizable guitar tones and Erik Deutsch’s honky-tonk piano on “Bedside Manners” slap you right in the face. It’s as if the band is saying, “We mean business, and we’re not gonna waste a second.” And they really don’t. Track after track, Happiness Bastards delivers the goods—songs you can imagine sounding electrifying from the stage. Take “Cross Your Fingers”— the cut begins with some gently fluttering acoustic fingerpicking, and Chris Robinson singing, “Call down lighting, rain and thunder.” The band’s answer? A storm of electric guitars, striking like lightning a minute in. Those are moments Black Crowes fans live for. Only two of the album’s 10 tracks slow things down, including the gorgeous “Wilted Rose,” a collaboration with Lainey Wilson (and even that ballad kicks up some dust after a few minutes). Overwhelmingly, Happiness Bastards is a down-and-dirty, rock[1]and-roll throwdown—and one of the best parties The Black Crowes have ever thrown. And that’s saying something.