Cortez are among the safest bets you can make in heavy rock and roll. Across three full-lengths to-date – 2020’s Sell The Future, 2017’s The Depths Below, 2012’s Cortez – the band has solidified a songwriting process and a straight-ahead, don’t-need-nuthin’-fancy-when-you-can-rock-like-this attitude that is second to none, in their home city or out of it. Their latest LP, Thieves and Charlatans, demonstrates their ability to, without aping anybody – a bit of Black Sabbath worship in the swaggering “Stove Up” notwithstanding – command a sound that is both classic-rooted and modern in its construction. Working in continued collaboration with producer Benny Grotto at Mad Oak Studio, and with the returning lineup of vocalist Matt Harrington, guitarists Scott O’Dowd and Alasdair Swan, bassist Jay Furlo and drummer Alexei Rodriguez (although he has since been replaced by Kyle Rasmussen) – as well as guest vocal spots from Craig Riggs (Kind, Roadsaw, Sasquatch, etc.) and Jim Healey (We’re All Gonna Die, Black Thai, Blood Lightning, etc.) – Thieves and Charlatans sees them look forward as ever while regarding their past in a new way.