So Inglorious are the new hope for British classic hard rock. We’ve already got several bands doing the classic 70s rock thing (The Answer, Rival Sons, Black Star Riders), but no one that’s really doing the whole Deep Purple, Whitesnake, Bad Company, Aerosmith vibe which is what these guys state as their primary influences. And it works.
Formed in February 2014, the band is fronted by Nathan James, who made a name for himself having sung for the multi-platinum selling Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and Scorpions guitar legend Uli Jon Roth.
The debut album has a monster classic rock production, especially with the rhythm section constantly bombarding you. James is pretty much everything you’d expect from a frontman hyped as an upcoming great. He has some immense lungs.
The album is out February 19 via Frontiers. Full review to follow, but here’s a quick look at the tracks:
After a build-up that would rival Rainbow and Deep Purple for mood and anticipation, Until I Die storms to life. It’s a mid-tempo hard hitting rocker with a terrific Zeppelinesque groove.
02.Breakaway is a storming fast paced Rainbow/Purple style rocker with organ and screaming vocals – everything you could ask for.
03.High Flying Gypsy turns the tempo back a notch, but is driven by a big riff and some nice soloing. The vocals wail of course.
04.Holy Water is a slow bluesy rock tune, with a really soulful vocal. It’s very Richie Kotzen and sounds like it could come from any of his solo albums. It’s a classic 70s swagger-n-blues tune. Very cool.
05.Warning takes a while to kick into high gear, but once rolling, delivers a wailing tempo boost when needed.
06.Bleed For You takes us back to a slow tempo. It’s a heavy ballad of sorts, the vocals are quite extraordinary.
07.Girl Got A Gun is the same slow pace again, perhaps up a notch for the decent chorus, but a bit slow.
08.You're Mine lifts the tempo slightly more again – we’re at mid-pace now. A decent hard rocker with more Kotzen familiarities with the vocals and some touches of Coverdale too.
09.Inglorious is a heavy, slow rocker with a good riff and some variety within the song, but slow again.
The first minute of Unaware is a slow piano intro before it fires up into a heavy but melodic heavy groover.
11.Wake is an acoustic ballad to close out, with a really big soulful vocal again from James.
So that’s the album. It certainly pays homage to the artists mentioned as influences and Nathan James is a monster vocalist with a strong Richie Kotzen / David Coverdale vibe.
The rest of the band are no slouches either – dynamic performances. Very convincing for a debut.
It all comes down to the tempo though – only 1 or 2 really fired up, fast paced tracks. Much more listening over the next week to see how the songs grow and last with me.
