Thursday, February 4, 2016

BLOOD RED SAINTS: ”Speedway”

Rating: RRR
Label: Frontiers 2015
Review by Kimmo Toivonen

Blood Red Saints is a new UK melodic rock band, but the guys behind the name aren’t newcomers. The band’s vocalist Pete Godfrey may have made his recording debut in 2014 with In Faith, but he’s been playing in bands for years just like co-founder, bassist Rob Naylor (from Angels Or Kings). The band’s drummer is Pete Newdeck, who’s been in Eden’s Curse, In Faith and is currently the frontman of Tainted Nation. Guitarist Lee Revill has played with Gary Hughes. Vega’s Martin brothers James and Tom were also involved and co-wrote a couple of songs, and Harem Scarem’s Harry Hess mastered the album. That’s enough namedropping…

With influences coming from the eighties’ Brit-AOR scene and from the big US bands of the same era, one could say that the Blood Red Saints find themselves somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. That might sound like a bad place to be, but it isn’t, the band sounds good. Def Leppard, FM, Winger and Harem Scarem all rolled into one…

So, the band does have the sound and style figured out, but do they have the songs? Yeah, kind of… most of the album is a likeable mixture of the aforementioned influences. The two first tracks are very much in the vein of Winger/Dokken with cool riffs and melodies, then the band move more towards AOR with the rest of the album. Although majority of the songs are good, the real highlights are hard to find. Many of the songs have somewhat understated choruses and hooks which won’t necessarily etch themselves into your brain.

The underlying mood of the songs is quite melancholic, therefore the upbeat and bright ”Wrapped Up In These Arms” stands out and gets my vote as the best song of the album. Not that I really mind the melancholy that much - it’s in my Finnish blood!

An enjoyable album and the fourth R was close… let’s go for that the next time around or better yet, the full fiver.

www.bloodredsaints.com
https://www.facebook.com/bloodredsaints/

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