(Rise Above) Total Time: 30:13
It is commonly known that England had a great tradition in bluesy hard rock groups. That is a fact none can deny. Most of those legendary groups of the late 60’s – early 70’s era were coming from different U.K. areas: Led Zeppelin, Cream, Humble Pie, Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green era), Free and many more. After the decline of this strong English hard rock scene during the last decades, a whole new wave of hard rock groups coming from the Kingdom has risen, seeming capable to lead the specific scene to a new flourishing period.
GENTLEMAN’S PISTOLS is another group included in this long list of retro sounding hard rock groups. As a matter of fact if the number “2007” wasn’t printed on the cd representing the year of its release, one could easily mistake this debut for a release of an unknown group of the ’68- ’74 era! When it comes to GENTLEMAN’S PISTOLS the word “retro” finds its true meaning.
Opener “Just a Fraction” makes clear the band’s intentions right from the beginning. These guys aren’t afraid to acknowledge the influence of their favorite bands to their music. The sound and playing of lead guitarist Chris Rogers leads the whole band to a musical journey through time, paying tribute to the guitar wizards of the ‘70’s. He performs with great enthusiasm and energy, while his strictly pentatonic solos and leads are delightful.
All the other members of GENTLEMAN’S PISTOLS are also making excellent contributions to this debut release, giving performances that will please every fan of bluesy hard rock. From James Atkinson ‘s tough lead vocal delivery to the rhythm section of Douglas McLaughlan and Adam Clarke, every musician proves that he is totally into rock music performing like he was born just to play this kind of music.
Excellent performances are just one part of this release. The other one is the quality of the songs included in this cd. It is obvious that the band has set high songwriting standards. As long as the listener will keep in mind that he will hear nothing new here – just dynamic back-to-the-roots hard rock-, he will have a great time listening to this debut. The heavy blues dynamite “Heavy Petting”, the aforementioned “Just a Fraction”, the Led Zeppelin-meets-Free “The Lady” (“What a lady wants, the lady gets” – SO true!!) and “Parking Banshee” with its obvious Hendrix influences are all songs that will send chills down every hard rockin’ blues fans’ spines.
Recommended not just for ‘70’s freaks who believe to the magic of that period - the members of this group surely have the same belief- but also for those who enjoy good old-fashioned music staying miles away from any musical trend.
