Take The Seven LOTS OF TROUBLE, USUALLY SERIOUS.

This band from Chesterfield, North Derbyshire have created an attention-grabbing debut album which grabs one by the lapels from track 1. ‘Welcome To My Town’ is an anthemic rock-pop song with heavy rock undertones and a monster of a melody that is nothing short of memorable. The second bullet is no less exlosive and on target. ‘Through The Crossfire’ is a riff-driven epic adventure of a song with superb, expressive vocals and totally convincing instrumental backdrop. The third song hits the target again big-time. ‘Duchess’ opens in a lower key and crawls along but as it does it’s pace quickens and the instruments start to gather until it all comes togther in a glorious chorus that is made for mainstream radio airplay.

There’s seven excellent tracks on this mini-album and enough to convince me that this is a band with a very substantial future in both performance and song-writing terms.

4/5

Apparat THE DEVIL’S WALK. Mute

Sascha Ring, better known as Apparat who is already well established in techno circles has released his first non-electronic album The Devil’s Walk. A sell-out tour followed, with high praise for both performances and LP.

This album impresses immediately with its superb instrumental opener ‘Sweet Unrest’ which straddles classical and pop music, with heavenly vocal choruses that seal a beautiful package. I expected the next song to start seamlessly but it arrived following a standard length silence which I think is a mistake. ‘Song Of Los’ is not the ideal follow-up either but the third track ‘Black Water’ most definitely is. It offers a different and contrasting sound that lifts it to a higher gear, rather than staying in the same place. Apparat possesses a keen sense of melody which comes to the fore in this song and then throughout the album.

What is also interesting here is the the dense atmosphere that the artist creates; it envelopes the listerner and raises several of the songs to an epic level. ‘Goodbye’ is another standout track with its eerie introduction of humming insects, relentless drum rhythm and keyboard notes. As the piano notes become more assertive the distant sweet voice arrives eventually becoming multi-layered and absolutely gorgeous.

This album is an emotional, gentle but adventurous musical journey that should win many friends.

4/5