Atlas - 'World In Motion' EP Review

Atlas – World In Motion EP

I really look forward to the days when either a friend (Michael K) recommends a band, especially if it’s a gem of a release. In this instance it’s a UK melodic rock band from Manchester called Atlas. Just don’t confuse them with the other Atlas who is a metal Bengali band.

Atlas (UK) consists of Craig Wells (Vocals), Howie Little (Guitars), John Moss (Guitars), James Thorley (Keys/Percussion) and Christian Redfearn (Bass).

‘World In Motion’ is a four track EP that I’ve been waiting to hear since I heard a song of theirs a couple of months back. On early inspection vocalist Craig Wells is a mix of Tony Mills and Vince Neil. Guitarist John Moss has recently been added and his guitar work is exemplary. Just check out the Atlas FB page, which shows John jamming along to a couple of Work of Art tracks (and others) which, is no bad thing in my opinion.

The album cover is pretty cool. Its more like a band in the vein of Spocks Beard, or Riverside might have. It definitely looks like a Prog cover than a melodic rock one.

Opening track ‘Change Of Heart’ sounds as if Tony Mills is fronting Vega. There’s some definite Vega-esque ‘Whoa’s’ and keyboard riffage along with some excellent guitar work from both Little and Moss. ‘Alexandria’ is the weakest of the four. It’s not bad, but Atlas has some good stuff going on for the rest of the EP. The pitch is high on the vocals for the early part, but settles into place once the chorus comes into play.

The stand out tracks by a country mile is the latter two. First is the rather excellent ‘Cross The Line’ a true melodic rock song in a 80s influenced style, everything about it is good.  (Bloody Good!) It brings in influences from Survivor, and sees Moss trading riffs with James Thorley’s keyboards. Exceeding it for brilliance is ‘Lost In The Moment’. There’s a lot more going on with this track, its more in line with something on the lighter side that Dream Theater would do, it ranges from complex, to acoustic and then technical, before finishing with a more West Coast vibe, this my dear reader is a damn good song.

If the first two songs were on a par with the last two, then Atlas would have an absolute pearler on their hands. As it stands its comfortably good. This is a very promising EP. The guitar work from John Moss is particularly of note, but when it is set amongst the mix of the other guys its taken up another notch as what could be some humdrum songs by others is given a kick up the arse and you just have to take notice.

I hope that some bands touring the UK (especially those from Sweden) would take Atlas under their wing and get them out to a decent audience. Also HRH, Rockingham SOS and JSY could do these guys a favour and get them on their bills.

80/100

Atlas

Craig Wells- Vocals

Howie Little – Guitars

John Moss – Guitars

James Thorley – Keys / Percussion

Christian Redfearn – Bass

EP Sampler can be heard here - https://soundcloud.com/atlasprojectuk

Tracklisting

Change Of Heart

Alexandria

Cross The Line

Lost In The Moment

https://www.facebook.com/atlasprojectuk/

Walkway - 'WWIII' Album Review

Walkway – WWIII

Its bleedin’ criminal how a band like Walkway can go virtually unnoticed in the UK, especially when they are as good as they are. They opened up the HRH AOR festival back in March. I dug out a YouTube vid a couple of days before and was blown away as to how good they were. It turned out they were as good as I hoped they were going to be, probably, no, definitely even better than imagined.

To emphasise how good, they were as tight as a very tight thing at HRH towers. Why? Ill tell you why….when this album was launched recently, Walkway performed their 1000th gig to launch this album. If you follow them on FB, it seems like it was their 1000^th gig just of 2017. If they have endorsements, a couple should be Dunlop Tyres, Kwik Fit, and Premier Inn, as these guys are away from home more than a Jehovah’s Witness.

Walkway doesn’t take any prisoners, whether it’s in the recording of the album (just 13 days at Sonic One Studio in Wales and mastered at Abbey Road), or the songs themselves. Walkway is based around the Ready brothers – Chris (guitar lead vocals) and James (lead guitar, backing vocals), and Andy Burlace (drums and backing vocals). The subsequent output from these guys in nothing short of memorable

I don’t have the first two albums to make that contrast, so it’s all on this one for analysis. I definitely wouldn’t class Walkway in the AOR bracket. They just happen to be a very good rock band with a knack for melody and hooks.  ‘Stutter’ has a big dirty riff, that’s up Nickleback’s street. Add in the chorus, and is a good a song as Kroeger can muster up. Its stadium rock at its finest. ‘Best I Ever Had’ again is to grab the listener by the ears and force-feed you with a giant riff and instantly memorable chorus. If this were an established US band like say Nickleback, then the radio play, and plaudits would be all over it. ‘Get A Grip’s’ chorus again is nothing short of ear candy. Add in James’ rolling guitar lick and its song that screams quality. Casey in particular takes some of its lead from Def Leppard’s ‘Pour Some Sugar…’ – especially the ‘Whoa’s!’ If you are going to nail your flag to the mast, it may as well be a good one. ‘Kiss Me Hard’ falls on the grittier side of their repertoire, such as ‘Stutter’ and ‘GAG’. ‘Holding On To Letting Go’ is Walkways ballad; all good bands should have one. ‘HOTLO’ builds up its pace and is in a similar vein to Skid Rows ‘I Remember You’. It is also included as an acoustical bonus track. Both stand tall in their own way.

The rawk returns for the frenetic ‘Leap Of Faith’ with James Ready letting rip in the soloing stakes and is as good as anyone I’ve heard in some time. ‘Something ‘Bout You’ falls on the heavy side, more Grunge than anything preceding this, and sees James making good use of his wah-wah!

There’s three bonus tracks to take on board….‘Rain’ a great Quo cover and tribute to the late Rick Parfitt, and features John Coghlan on drums, ‘Mission Impossible’, another Leppard-esque air punching anthem if ever I heard one, and finally the afore mentioned ‘HOTLO’

Chris has a bit of Robert Plant in him (oo-er), and is a front man of excellence. Couple this with James’ ability to rattle off huge riffs for breakfast and is in the style of some 80s classic guitarists, and it all makes for a sumptuous experience.

To be honest, this is a good a release as any band you’ll hear this year. The songs are great, performed with a swagger and an experience that only comes from experience and age, and constant touring. Walkway has two of these in abundance (age is on their side). See these guys live, as this is definitely where the magic happens. They tour that much, there’s a bloody good chance they will be hitting a town near you soon!

If there’s any justice, more festival appearances should be on the cards for Walkway, as they would play to many more I’m guessing than playing 3-5 gigs a week in pubs up and down the UK. It’s certainly honing their quality, but they truly deserve to play in front of bigger audiences. Walkway are going places, and its only in one direction….up!

Score 85/100

Tracklisting

Stutter

Best I Ever Had

Get A Grip

Casey

Kiss Me Hard

Modern Day

Same Old Situation

Holding On To Letting Go

Leap Of faith

Something ‘Bout You

Rain (Bonus)

Mission Impossible (Bonus)

Holding On To Letting Go (Acoustic) (Bonus)

Walkway

Chris Ready – Lead Vocals, rhythm guitar, keys

James Ready – Lead Guitar, backing vocals

Andy Burlace – Drums, backing vocals

 

www.officialwalkway.com

https://www.facebook.com/OfficialWalkway

https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialWalkwayPage

https://twitter.com/WalkwayRock

https://www.instagram.com/walkwayofficial/

Moritz - 'About Time Too' Album Review

Well I thought if I was going to do a last review, it might as well be a good one! Moritz are back in the game, it’s been four years since SOS was released and a mighty 30 years since their first. In terms of Prog bands, Moritz are still pretty damn prolific by comparison!

There been some changes since the last album. Greg Hart has departed to form his ‘Cats In Space' band. Hart was one of the main songwriters in Moritz, and you would think that his trip into space would affect the Moritz output. Well, you’re completely wrong, because ‘About Time Too’ sees Moritz ditch some of the pomp and go more rock than roll and added a bit of soul and blues without losing any of the melody that the AOR crowd love them for.

I was fortunate to be given the demoes to listen to a few months back, and they were a stellar set of songs before they were tweaked and polished. I can’t believe it was 10 months ago.

The band still consists of its core members Peter Scallan (Vox), Mike Nolan (guitars) and Ian Edwards (Bass/Keys). In comes long time cohort Kenny Evans (guitars) and John Tonks (drums). I add that for the ‘up and coming gigs’, Moritz will be joined by Chris Teeder (keys) and Russ Wilson (drums). Cool. Everyone’s got a mention.

The demoes didn’t need much polishing, but they have pulled out all the stops and raided both Auto Glym and Mr Sheene and its been polished to within an inch of its life (in an utterly good way). The change is fantastic.

Scallan has had his shackles unleashed and is like a different singer. The guy now has a  more bluesy raspiness to his tone. And the result on the opener ‘One More Beautiful Day’ is brilliant. Couple this with the sumptuous harmonies and the wonderous composition and starts to albums don’t get much better than this.

‘Moon And Back’ is like ear candy of the highest order. The chorus just infecting your lug’oles and embedding itself after just one listen. Its like something that the lapsed Rock God Michael Bolton would have done in his brief dalliance with AOR. ‘Chance of a Lifetime’ has a great 80s lyric, ‘walking on a thin line, between love and hate’. It’s a huge 80s influenced song. In fact, if it were 1986 we would all be shitting ourselves with excitement! I’m an old fart brought up on music like this, and I did let out a little excited fart if I’m honest, as it brings back a lot of great memories from so many great bands (and times). The melodic rock community will love this. ‘Dreamland’ is probably the only song on the album that keeps it all reined in. It shows a different side to Moritz. ‘Take it On The Chin’ (s) kicks off with Flight Lieutenant Mike Nolan (he of the flying V display troupe) who steps up and produces a face melting riff combined with Ian’s Hammond sound which also sees Peter Scallan catching his balls on razor wire and hitting a note that only dogs and teenagers can hear. Scallan sings, ‘Some you lose, some you win, you gotta take it on the chin.’ Well based on this selection, Moritz will undoubtedly be winners.

‘Run’ shows that its not all about pure pink fluffiness. The Moritz boys like to rock out occasionally and this is a prime example. A co-write with Ivan Gunn, it gets full marks as a soft/LOUD rocker; the best ones mix the tempo, and this one does it with flair, and has a cracking guitar solo. It will sound massive live. ‘Love Long Gone’ is the kind of song that bands tried to coax out of the ‘masters’ such as Diane Warren or Desmond Child back in the day, and it wants to make you dig out your bleached denims and leg-warmers, and buy a DeLorean and head back to the 80s. ‘Own Little World’ is ‘Styx-esque’ with layers upon layers of vocal harmonies. It is a ‘Part II’ companion piece of ‘Caught Between Life & The Light’ from SOS and is an absolute delight.

Next up is my outright favourite on ‘ATT’. The demo stood out like a baboon’s arse, and it does today even though I had to go looking for it as the title has changed to ‘You Don’t Know What Love Is’. Its Like Procul Harum, Percy Sledge, and Lorraine Ellison got down and dirty, and 9 months later it spawned ‘YDKWLI’ (it just rolls off the tongue)! The guitar solo from Mike Nolan is up there with some of the best. Moritz hit the final furlong full in their stride with ‘There’s Something About/Unwanted Man’, a moving synth intro (think Tarot Woman), before unleashing the beast. Fuck. Me. ‘Unwanted Man’ is huge. The opening riff is to die for, then it steps back to build its tempo to a crescendo and ‘that chorus’. Evans and Nolan trade licks like Robbo and Gorham back in the day. Wow! Its one of the best finishes to an album I’ve heard in quite some time.

Kids, there’s a bloody good reason why Moritz are so damn good. They have influences from a time when there were lots of great melodic rock bands around. They take snippets from the best and turn them into their own style. When other labels are turning out ‘average’ as being acceptable, its great to see some local boys leading the charge and showing the rest how it should be done.

I’ve loved ‘Undivided’, and ‘SOS’, but ‘About Time Too’ takes it all to a whole different level.

95/100

Moritz –

Peter Scallan – Lead & backing vocals

Mike Nolan – Electric & acoustic guitars, vocals

Ian Williams – Bass, synthesizers, Hammond organ, vocals

Kenny Evans – Electric & acoustic 6 and 12 string guitars

John Tonks – Drums

Tracklisting –

About Time Too (Intro)

One More Beautiful Day

To The Moon and Back

Chance Of A Lifetime

Dreamland

Forever Is

Take It On The Chin

Run

Love Long Gone

Own Little World

You Don’t Know What Love Is

There’s Something About (Intro)

Unwanted Man