Classic Rock UK - April 2019

Despite the new blood, 11 is the
work of a group snuggled happily
in a perma-1973 cocoon. The
tunings, arrangements,
instrumental intricacies and
washes of colour of tracks like
Heaven and How Many Miles
belong to a bygone, pastoral age,
in which the flute for a while
threatened to become rock’s lead
instrument. There are some
sweet moments – the soulful
guitar soloing of Winnie reminds
briefly of Hendrix’s Captain
Coconut while overall the tingles
of jazz and folk make for a broad
range of flavours. But really, this
is a work that says, “Hope you
enjoy our old direction.”
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David Stubbs

The
Picturebooks
The Hands Of Time
CENTURY MEDIA
Garage biker blues and desert
vibes on this duo’s third album.
There are plenty
of ways in
which The
Picturebooks
stand out in
a crowded blues rock scene. The
German duo’s music conjures up
choppers speeding down sun-
soaked dirt roads, and they don’t
just talk the talk – in their
motorcycle garage-come-studio
they bung elbow grease into
bikes and handcrafted
instruments, even utilising the
studio as a “third instrument”.

Their quest for authenticity has

paid off, and The Hands Of Time

is a rich, jangly, upbeat

concoction of garage blues,

punctuated throughout with

Western cinema-style motifs,

which add to their dusty desert

vibe. Is isn’t just their duo status

that makes them comparable to

The Black Keys, particularly on

the hip-shakin’ boogie of Lizard,

though their punchy grooves are

peppered with a stronger strain

of Americana. They’ve also

earned extra cool points with

Chrissie Hynde guesting on the

gritty, sultry swagger of Yo u

Can’t Let Go.

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Hannah May Kilroy

Last In Line

II FRONTIERS

Ex Dio-ites find their own style.

When Last In

Line started in

2012, it was put

together by

original Dio

members to play songs from

that band’s early albums. By

2016’s Heavy Crown, LIN were

doing their own material. But

with II, they’ve truly got their

range and momentum.

Led by guitarist Vivian

Campbell, Last In Line deliver

songs which have British hard

rock grit and an American

sophistication. Drawing

comparisons with ZZ Top, Thin

Lizzy, Aerosmith and Saxon, the

performances shine through on

multi-faceted tracks such as Year

Of The Gun, The Light and Give

Up The Ghost. Vocalist Andrew

Freeman proves himself to have

passion and command, and new

bassist Phil Soussan gives the

music rhythmic flexibility.

Overall, II showcases a band

thrusting forward.

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Malcolm Dome

Pond

Tasmania MARATHON ARTISTS

Sumptuous eighth album from

Western Oz psych-trancers.

Think of Pond as

the gentler,

more

melancholy

cousins to Tame

Impala. There is a Flaming Lips/

Mercury Rev comparison to be

made here too (i.e. shared

members); TI’s Kevin Parker

produced Tasmania (as he has

done all the albums from this

prolific West Australia band).

Yet while Pond frontman Nick

Allbrook may share a similar pop

sensibility and love for acid-

tinged Disney songs, this group

are very much their own.

The sound on Pond’s eighth

studio album is sumptuous,

spacey, sad. Set amiss by

planetary drift. Trippy, tingly. As

Allbrook describes it, songs like

the luxurious The Boys Are Killing

Me and epic Paisley-fest Daisy

are “dejected meditation[s] on

planetary discord, water,

machismo, shame, blame and

responsibility, love, blood and

empire”. So beautifully sad.

Like the often-overlooked state

itself, Tasmania feels dislocated,

otherworldly, Dystopian, rain-

(and tear-) soaked, magical,

haunting. There is a desperation

here, a helpless wonder and

dread that lifts Pond above their

alt.pop and psych-trance peers.

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Everett True

Queensrÿche

The Verdict CENTRAL MEDIA

Heavy and progressive, it’s

business as usual.

The split

between

Queensrÿche

and original

singer Geoff

Tate was a messy affair, as bitter

as any divorce. But in the five

years since Tate lost the right to

use the band’s name they’ve

been doing just fine without him.

The Verdict is their third album

with singer Todd La Torre, a Tate

sound-alike formerly of ’Rÿche

sound-alikes Crimson Glory.

And while Tate’s band

Operation: Mindcrime, named

after Queensrÿche’s 80s

masterpiece, has now been

wound up after three tortuously

overwrought concept albums,

The Verdict has the modern

’Rÿche in commanding form.

An improvement on their 2015

album Condition Hüman, it has all

of the hallmarks of the band’s

early classics – the heavy metal

power and prog rock finesse, the

majestic twin-guitar harmonies

and glass-shattering vocals.

Blood Of The Levant is a model of

controlled aggression, but there

is beauty, too, in the melodic pull

of Light-Years and the subtle

shifts in Dark Reverie. For

Queensrÿche, the battle is won.

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Paul Elliott

The Riven

The Riven THE SIGN RECORDS

The spirit of ‘74 lives on

It’s a tricky act

to pull off,

evoking the vibe

of an era and

still sounding

utterly authentic and unforced –

yet The Riven achieve exactly

this on their self-titled debut.

Firmly rooted in early 70s psych

and heavy rock, we’re given a full

fist of vintage-inflected gems

drawing on inevitable

touchstones such as Grand

Funk, Rush, Heart and Deep

Purple. These are heavy, heavy

blues songs, but refracted

through the prism of prog,

resulting in tunes like The Serpent

which combine memorable

choruses – Totta Ekebergh’s

powerful vocals are a wonder to

behold – with intricate

musicianship and not an ounce

of fat. Lean and mean, this is

a snappy, no-frills sortie that

exudes charisma and soul.

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Essi Berelian

Find Me: when Angels

In Blue is good, it’s

bloody great.

ROUND-UP: MELODIC ROCK By Dave Ling

Tug Of War

Soulfire ESCAPE MUSIC

Tug Of War are a vehicle

for Canada’s BK

Morrison, a vocalist

discovery of Tommy

Denander, the Swede

who wrote, played on and co-produced

this promising debut album. Soulfire

balances a fizzy energy with Toto-esque

proficiency – perhaps unsurprising given

that Joseph Williams and Chicago’s Bill

Champlin are both among its featured

backing vocalists.

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Blood Red Saints

Pulse AOR HEAVEN

The past few years have

seen British band Blood

Red Saints toughen up

their sound

considerably.

Responding to events in their personal

lives, album number three sees them

encroach into rawer, darker territory still.

The results are pretty unconvincing. As for

the handful of tracks forged in their original

style, such as Invincible, well, the less said

the better.

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Viana

Forever Free ESCAPE MUSIC

The second album from

Italian guitarist Stefano

Viana, Forever Free is

among the best

surprises of the year so

far. With Bryan Cole (Giant, Steel City)

excelling at the mic, Strangeways singer

Terry Brock duets on Do You Remember.

Elsewhere a cameo from Winger’s John

Roth only accentuates the rousing mix of

timeless AOR and grin-inducing blue-collar

hard rock.

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Find Me

Angels In Blue FRONTIERS

Angels In Blue is the

third album from this

liaison between

American vocalist

Robbie LaBlanc, whose

band Blanc Faces caused a major stir more

than a decade ago with an outstanding

self-titled debut, and the Swedish musician,

songwriter and producer Daniel Flores,

whose CV features the likes of The Murder

Of My Sweet and Issa.

Given that Flores based his flamboyant,

bombastic style upon both heavy metal

and progressive rock, and that LaBlanc is

a melodic rock purist raised on Survivor,

Foreigner, Toto and Journey, the marriage

seemed a little unlikely. Nevertheless, the

middle ground they settle upon is likely to

appeal to fans of those same names,

along with Giant, Eclipse and W.E.T.

Once again LaBlanc’s voice is

absolutely immense, which is fortunate as

in spite of scaling the towering heights of

No Tears In Paradise, Chain Of Love and

You Are The Only One, proceedings

stumble slightly thanks to by-numbers

fillers such as True Believer. Another of its

defining moments, Desperate Dreams, is

a Survivor cover, but when Angels In Blue

is good, it’s bloody great.

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Palace

Binary Music FRONTIERS

Had this little diamond

not flown under most

people’s radar due to

having been released

during the last festive

break, it would have been a dead cert for

2018’s ‘best-of’ lists. An unashamed level of

adulation of 1980s-era AOR bleeds from

every pore of Swedish guitarist Michael

Palace’s body, although the glistening

Binary Music, his second solo album, still

sounds fresh, vital and utterly essential.

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CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 87