The Answer: Revival (Spinefarm)
Northern Irish Blues/hard rockers The Answer return with their third and possibly best album. Starting with hard hitting opener Waste Your Tears we are immediately hit with the heavy rocking riff of this retro influenced band. Frontman Cormac Neesons voice is at its finest throughout with the band also on fire, the soloing is particularly excellent. Use Me is another speedy rocker that creates this opening salvo. The bands time on the road with AC/DC has served them well as the songs on this album feel more accomplished than their first but more fluid than on their last. First single Vida (I Want You) is a funky number that feels a little bit commercial as is Nowhere Freeway which features Lynn Jackman from Saint Jude dueting with the band. Honestly this could be a number one as it has a distinctly modern sound to it, Destroy Me has a Kashmir like sound with a crunching guitar riff that comes out of a Middle Eastern vibe and One More Revival brings the gospel influence to the album. This is an album of great tracks that really doesn't do anything new but who wants that when this is great as it is. The second disc features some demos and extra tracks out of these Piece By Piece, What I Am and their cover of Fire & Water are the tracks that stand out. The Answer are the leading band of their genre and on this album they prove it. 9/10
The Union: Siren Song (Payola Music)
The collaboration between former Thunder guitarist Luke Morley and Pete Shoulder continues with this second album. Their debut was blues rock masterpiece and was one of the best albums of the year, this album continues in that vein. Opener Siren Song starts with a countrified opening and then blasts the doors off and rocks like something BLS may have written. Blame It On Tupelo follows the rocking trend until Orion breaks the flow with a folky detour. This is then followed by the almost Glam-rock stomp of Obsession and the hymn-like ballad of Make Up Your Mind which shows just how soulful Shoulder's gritty and sonorous voice can be. The Remedy has a dirty slide riff that falls into another ballad of Cut The Line that is beautiful and works well after the rockier song before it. The album is brilliantly written with light and shade in every track. Morley and Shoulder's guitar playing is fantastic and Shoulder's voice is suited perfectly. After the demise of Thunder as a touring and recording prospect I thought I'd lost the book forever, however The Union is just another great passage in the history of rock and roll. 8/10
Reckless Love: Animal Attraction (Spinefarm)
Having released their first album last year Swede's Reckless Love have returned with their second album that is possibly even more 80's than their first. Like last time there is a very strong Van Halen element to the album with frontman Olli Herman both looking and sounding like 'Diamond Dave' and guitarist Pepe ripping out the double tapping like Eddie used to. However their sound has matured on this album, the opening and title track has a distinctive Def Leppard vibe to it and ballad Fantasy is straight out of the Bon Jovi songbook. This album maybe lumped with the parody metal of Steel Panther but Reckless Love are not a joke band they are just bringing the Booze, Babes and Bikinis of the Sunset Strip back to metal and in doing so they have created a well-produced and performed party rock album full of juicy hooks and some very tasty guitar playing, after listening to this album you'll be hungry for more (sorry for the puns). 7/10
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