Inglorious

The perfect way to start the year after a typical Xmas & New Year’s break is a loud, brash and classic rock album brimming with aggression and youthful brio – Inglorious seem to fit the bill perfectly.

First time through I thought I detected a voice that was familiar and in fact it turns out to be Nathan James – erstwhile lead vocals for Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Scorpions and Uli Jon Roth – and he is giving it the full beans. Bassist Colin Parkinson booms out bass riffs like cracks of thunder and drummer Phil Beaver is the best I’ve heard in a long while, hammering the drumkit like Jason Bonham and driving the sound like a rear-mounted V12. They couple their powerhouse engine room with Wil Taylor’s rhythm guitar and he definitely give the music a Blues tone and feel but lead guitarist Andreas Eriksson brings it right back into the hard rock fold.

The band claim influences such as Zeppelin, Bad Company, Deep Purple – the whole ‘70’s canon basically – and you can hear all of that in the music. They have the drive of early Purple and the arrogance of Whitesnake but they also have the enthusiasm and excitement of Aerosmith and all of that seems to gel into a monster wake up for 2016.

They make big play of the way in which they recorded the album, especially the principle of all of the band recording together:
Nathan thought to himself, “Why are those classic albums so awesome?” He realised it was because “the musicians were recording in an organic way; they could track it live and capture amazing energy. Not only in rock but in Motown and even classical music they tracked everyone in the room at the same time,” adds Nathan. “The air movement from a bass drum, that same excitement you get when you perform, and that's exactly how I wanted the album to feel. For so long people have been hiding mistakes, singers using auto tune to make them sound perfect, double tracking to make it sound bigger and using click to play in time. There is none of that on this album."

The feel of the album is definitely like the live experience of hearing the band strutting their stuff and over the 11 tracks that make up the album there is all the light and shade, the 3 dimensionality that feels missing from so much modern rock.

Standouts here are probably the opener ‘Until I Die’, ‘Breakaway’, the title track and ‘Girl Got A Gun’ but it all has something to say and as a heartstarter for the new year it is definitely there alongside Alka-Seltzer and a triple espresso.