Reviews: The Night Flight Orchestra, Gin Lady, Lunar, TheCityIsOurs (Simon Black, Rich Piva, Matt Bladen, Liam Williams)

The Night Flight Orchestra - Give Us The Moon (Napalm Records) [Simon Black]

Side project, Super Group, Bit of a Laugh… this act really are all three in one package. If you really have been living under a rock (or only get your news from Twatter, which is the same thing), then you may have missed out on The Night Flight Orchestra. 

Born on the road (although more likely the departure lounge of an airport) whilst Soilwork were touring nearly twenty years ago, this later 70’s to early 80’s infused homage to the Hard Rock and AOR of the period has taken on a life of its own. Starting as a studio project (given the schedules of Soilwork and Arch Enemy), the band became an entity of note some time ago, with 2021’s Aeromantic II feeling like an absolute peak. I had suspected that they would call it a day though when David Andersson passed in 2022, given he was the main songwriter, but here we are with album number seven.

Having finally seen them at Bloodstock last year, it was encouraging to see that they also worked really well in the live arena. The Bloodstock audience can be a hard one to win over, but they were one of the highlights of the weekend, as that hard to influence audience warmed to the tongue in cheek airline chic and a damned good performance.

This record is no different in tone and style from its predecessor’s, and more importantly, has lost none of the songwriting edge that I had feared given the challenges they have been through. The humorous whilst serious lyrical style continues, and the sound mix perfectly captures the period whilst keeping one foot firmly in the 21st Century, and like every other album of theirs holds the listener for the full hour without feeling drawn out or padded. Thematically this plays with the airline skit throughout, being a loose concept of stories of trips to various global touring destinations, although sharp listeners to the link tracks may be surprised at the final call destination of Tashkent in the intro, presumably because it’s still 1977 in the capital of Uzbekistan…

It works because it’s done seriously, yet affectionately but the songs are not a slave to the concept – they work individually and cohesively, and focus on delivering the goods, not the gimmick. Part Boston, part Abba, and with a distinctly proggy edge thanks to the superlative keyboard work of John Lönnmyr this album could have been a road bump in an otherwise upward trajectory, but it’s absolutely not. 9/10

Gin Lady - Before The Dawn Of Time (Ripple Music) [Rich Piva]

Sweden’s Gin Lady has signed with Ripple Music for their new record, Before The Dawn Of Time. Now, we know Ripple mostly for being the best label in heavy rock today, bringing the riffs and the heavy. Main man Todd Severin, however, isn’t here to just bring you what you expect from his label, hence why we have the very 70s sounding Gin Lady bringing their best record yet to the masses via his imprint. Gin Lady is less chunky and more smooth, in the best ways possible. Before The Dawn Of Time is filled with delicious harmonies, amazing vocals, and a sound that screams 70s but never sounds like a rehash of what we have all heard before.

Before The Dawn Of Time is a record that has taken all the best of the past six Gin Lady records and brought the best pieces of them to this new album. Their sound has expanded, some new elements added, and the stars have aligned for the band over these eleven songs. I have been saying 70s this whole time but I think I should drill into that to eliminate confusion. When I say 70s in this case, I mean more Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan than Led Zep and Black Sabbath. Add a bit of psychedelia to the mix, and here we are. There are some proggy elements too, like on The Paramount, which has some early Styx/Yes vibes to it and some amazing vocal harmonies. There may be some flute too. The song is just gigantic and feels like the best sunrise you have ever seen. 

I mention harmonies, and that rules the day on Mighty River, which actually sounds like one if you close your eyes while listening. Tingens Sanna Natur (the true nature of things in English) doubles down on the chill side of the band, adding more of the psych side and what I think may be some harpsichord, with excellent results. The chill remains with The Long Now, an instrumental interlude that shows of the band’s ability to incorporate all sorts of sounds into a track seamlessly while also acting as a bridge to the very cool Ways To Cross The Sky, which will have its airy melody stick with you all day. The vocals on this one are just great and so is the guitar work. What could make this record even better for me? How about the extremely well-placed keys on Turn Back, which may be my favourite track on the album. 

The upbeat Mulberry Bend is super catchy and leverages synths perfectly for the vibe. Anything standout track. The closest the band gets to The Beatles is on The Universe Vibrant Rings. Get ready to take a trip with this one. The Brain ventures into some power pop territory, but never strays to far away from the classic rock proggy psych they have perfected on Before The Dawn Of Time. If you like a band like The Golden Grass or Years After (or even The Allmans) you will dig the song Bliss On The Line. The closer, You're A Big Star, kind of sounds like the band it mentions in the title, which is fitting, given all the cool directions this record goes over the eleven tracks.

This record took me a few listens, but on about number four Before The Dawn Of Time really clicked. Ripple doesn’t care about only putting out the best heavy rock, just the best rock. Gin Lady won’t knock you down with their riffs, but will lift you up with everything else on Before The Dawn Of Time. 9/10

Lunar - Tempora Mutantur (Saibot Reigns Records) [Matt Bladen]

Every Lunar album is a cause for celebration and Tempora Mutantur is another incredible offering from a band becoming a progressive metal powerhouse. Founded by drummer Alex Bosson this is fourth album under the Lunar title and it's again for shifts in the line up owing to the collaborative nature of the band. Guitarists Carlos Alvarez, Connor McCray and keyboardist Anthony Stahl join the band. Alex Bosson and Ryan Price continue as the bottom end they established on the debut album while Chandler Mogel's cleans are joined again by Brian Lewis' growls.

As I said I've loved all of Lunar's records in the past, they seem to find new ways to create progressive music, thematic progressive music which is concerned with the passing of time and how it can effect us. Now I've said progressive music a lot in thus review but Lunar really do encompass a lot of them from the theatrical King Crimson-isms of A Summer To Forget, or the moments of Yes on Weakening Winter Touch and Dream Theater on Spring In My Step.

There's influences from Opeth and more contemporary acts such as Wilderun or Caligula's Horse on Fall Back Into Old Habits, Wayne Ingram from Wilderun adding extra guitar to this one while Sam Vallen of Caligula's Horse brings a killer solo to Tempora Mutantur: Part I – Passage Of Time, the first part of a three part suite that makes up the last part of the record. Any fan of progressive metal or extreme metal will yet again find themselves loving what Lunar do, a jukebox of prog metal which kept me loving it throughout. 9/10

TheCityIsOurs – Will You Still Love Me? (Arising Empire) [Liam Williams]

London based metalcore group TheCityIsOurs bring us a fresh new album with their third full-length effort Will You Still Love Me? A great mix of heavy and aggressive sounds with some really catchy pop elements. You got your chuggy riffs, sick breakdowns, great screaming vocals, all things you’d expect from a metalcore band, but with some fun upbeat sounding parts, great synth and keyboard work, funky guitar in some parts and really catchy vocal melodies.

Shame starts off with a trap beat and some heavy breathing before some low clean vocals come in, broken up by short and punchy screams. There’s some great lead guitar parts throughout. The choruses are heavy and bouncy and there’s a great breakdown. A solid start, and a good representation of what to expect from the rest of the album. 

In The Dark has some nice lead guitar at the end of the intro leading into the first verse. There’s some nice clean singing in the first half of verse 1. Really good chorus. The second verse is very interesting and there is a short rapping section for the pre-chorus. Another cool breakdown followed by the final chorus which starts off with clean guitar and vocals before the other band members come back in to finish off the song. 

Hot Mess is very reminiscent of Happy Song by Bring Me The Horizon to me. It’s a very chuggy track with some cheerleader sounding vocals in the intro and repeated again for the outro. With some heavy verses and strong, catchy, poppy choruses sprinkled in between.

Then we head into Sugar, this song has some nice bouncy bass to start off before some clean guitar, vocals and synth join in. The second half gets heavier with a longer second chorus with a heavy bridge section which comes back in after the final chorus for the outro of the track. Dopamine is another fun, bouncy track. Really interesting pre-chorus and another cool breakdown. Freak Like You has some great funky guitar playing in the intro and first verse. The second verse gets a bit heavier with the addition of scream vocals and another great breakdown for the outro of the track.

Work It Out (If You Let Me) is a bit softer than the rest of the album, still a great song, and once again gets heavier in the second verse with some screams. I really enjoyed the drumming in the bridge section. Hush! Hush! Is a fantastic track with a little bit of everything in it. It gets really heavy in some parts. There’s some more cool funky guitar. 

A nice build-up to the sick breakdown before going back to a pop sound for the final chorus, which is then followed by a saxophone solo out of nowhere which I thought was really fun and unexpected. Psycho is another fun track. It has an almost Rage Against The Machine vibe to it, with some rapping over some bouncy guitar riffs. Halfway through the song it starts glitching out before coming back in for a really nice breakdown for the outro which seems to gradually get slower until the end of the track.

Track 10 is I See You and this one is another banger! Heavy, chuggy pre-chorus, really epic choruses. There’s an almost ethereal sounding synth break halfway through which is joined by some bass and vocals before dropping into what I consider to be the best breakdown on the entire album. Really good stuff! I don’t really have much to say about Can You Feel It. I really like the verses but I didn’t quite feel the choruses (pun intended). 

It’s still upbeat and sounds really good, but it was a little bit weak compared to the rest of the album (which, all things considered, isn’t much of a criticism). Then we get to the final track, Enough. This was another good one. I like the contrast of the soft instrumentals and the aggressive vocals in the verses. The bridge section is really good and then there’s a key change for the final chorus which I would typically consider really cheesy but it actually works really well with this track so they managed to pull it off.

 
This album demonstrates really well how metal can be such a diverse genre when you mix in other styles and genres and make it work. I really enjoyed listening to it. There was no filler, all great tracks. There were a couple of weaker tracks but as I said, considering how good it is in general, it’s easy to listen to from start to finish. And you’ll have a good time bopping your head along! 9/10