By Monk
Any band that calls themselves Rock’s Finest should really possess one of three things, the first being possibly as set of egos the size of every planet in the Milky Way put together, together with balls of steel. The second would be a set of balls the size of every planet in the Milky Way coupled with an ego of steel. And the third, perhaps most obviously, would be a musical ability to back up such a bold claim…
This particular group of six German musicians actually are a tribute band: yes, I know, those two words are verboten (sic) here on ÜR, but bear with me, as, when the world ground to a standstill 20 months ago, like so many of us the band members were forced to re-evaluate their position. With no gigs, they actually set about switching their talents – and their experiences in other acts, such as Jaded Heart – from playing other people’s songs to their own, the result being this debut album.
…And it is an album which is very firmly rooted in the sound of the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties via which the band and its members have earned their crust paying tribute to date. It is also an album which very much comes across as being rooted in the drama and OTT presentation of musical theatre – which is not actually surprising as that is, indeed, the background of one of the two lead singers, Svenja Meyer – giving a very Steinman feel to the overall impact, especially in its juxtaposition of swelling orchestrations and crunching guitar riffs.
In fact, the overall feeling of this album is that of it being the soundtrack to a wannabe rock opera, and there is a thematic flow to the concept, from the Survivor-invoking AOR sensibility of opener ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’ through the FWoCR-style power ballads of ‘A Brand New Start’ and ‘Will You Be There For Me’, the overblown pomposity of ‘Where Did The Butterflies Go?’ to the epic closer, ‘Rock Me Home’, that almost demands the full West End treatment, complete with the obligatory troupe of leather ‘n’ lycra clad dancers gyrating in the background.
Unfortunately, this does mean that the album works on a similar level to that of an OST release… it doesn’t quite make sense outside of the dramatic context in which it so obviously should be situated; having said that, there are a couple of tracks, such as ‘Bad Boy’ and ‘State Of Decay’, which stand proudly their own right and gladly can be taken out of the overall context on their own strengths. Nevertheless, there is no doubt about the quality of both the musicianship and song writing abilities involved, so it would be interesting to see if the band manage to fulfil the ambition they obviously possess and realize the full potential which undoubtedly could be explored further…
- ‘Planet Rock’ is out now. You can get your copy HERE.
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