The Moshville Times - Review: Inglorious

[avatar user=”Lara” size=”50″ align=”left” /]Originally formed at the beginning of 2014 by Nathan James, who sung for Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Uli John Roth among others, Inglorious is a music powerhouse formed by a selection of fairly unknown local talent: rhythm guitarist Wil Taylor, swede -not so local- lead guitarist Andreas Eriksson, bassist Colin Parkinson, and to complete the line-up, drummer Phil Beaver.

Over the past year a great hype built up around the band. The industry aired with great praise their song “Breakaway” generating a lot of interest from hard rock fans and musicians alike. So much so that Brian May compared them to a potent young Deep Purple, complimenting Nathan’s voice as not short of amazing. If you are a fan of classic hard-rock and bands like Y&T, Whitesnake and Deep Purple, their upcoming eponymous album Inglorious is definitely worth checking out. The band has been quickly compared to the above mentioned rock royalty (which most certainly influenced them) but don’t be fooled into believing they’re just cashing in into the 70’s and 80’s much loved classic sounds, there’s not a hint of nostalgia here as Inglorious have much to input to the hard rock genre they embody so well. Hard rock, blues and melodic rock are mixed here into an explosive cocktail that will surely satisfy you thirst for the heavier side of rock. I find Inglorious musical offering true and passionate, its certainly owned by the band which can carry the genre forward, no doubt adding to it. British hard rock will perhaps rejuvenate a bit in the process ;)

Inglorious opens with “Until I Die” on some beautifully haunting notes from a Hammond organ, which reminds me of Deep Purple, and whom John Lord himself would have approved of. A very thick full heavy sound for this opening number which featured as one of the band’s first videos.

By the time “Breakaway” starts you are sucked into a time-warp: it feels like it, it rocks like it, and you are probably dancing to it, I certainly am! It has shades of Rainbow, but at the same time it retains its own sound. Andreas Eriksson makes here good use of his Wah Wah pedal during the solo and despite not being full on shred it fits the song well.

“High Flying Gypsy” is one of my many favorites from this album, heavy, Sabbath-esque, it really gets under your skin. This is the first time we hear the bass playing on its own…nice bass sound from bassist Colin Parkinson.

Nathan James vocal range makes him a very versatile singer, from his TV appearances and singing contests we now know he can reach a top C with ease but it’s on the soulful, bluesy singing parts that I feel he performs at his best; “Holy Water” being just a great example of that. This song provides a change of pace from the rockier songs that preceded it. The guitar here has only a very slightly over-driven sound. A slower bluesier mellower song that reminds me a bit of early Whitesnake but without the macho Austin Power’esque “Ohh baby, slide it in” posturing…although there are some “baby baby’s” on the outro :P

On “Warning” we can hear Wil Taylor’s quite fuzzy crusty rhythm guitar sound on the intro, while the lead plays some slide guitar over the top. A faster paced song where Colin Parkinson really shows off his chops as he wanders around the neck on his bass guitar at great speed. The outro of the song, usually reserved for guitar soloing, instead has some great bass lines.

“Bleed for You” has got quite a dynamic range going from full on rock parts to softer parts. “Girl Got A Gun” it’s an interesting one, which I like very much, it starts off with Nathan sounding a bit like Coverdale during the slower lighter verse section coming up before the rockier chorus section that follows: it works for me.

“You’re Mine” verse section has a staccato feel reminiscent of ZZ Top and also brings back memories of Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh well” from 1969.

A track that stands out from the others is the title-track “Inglorious”, as it has a slightly exotic sound to it with a middle eastern tinge, this is especially noticeable during the solo section.

Where would a hard rock album be without the ubiquitous acoustic strummed ballad? “Wake” is not the strongest number on this release but with so many great songs crammed into their debut album who really cares? It is really all down to personal preferences and I can see multitudes of adoring fans waving their mobile phones in the air on this one ;)

To round off this well crafted album is “Unaware”, starting with a misleading piano intro it really kicks in gear with some heavier riffs on a fairly melodic piece which provide for a well fitted solo too.

While lyrically some of the songs cover typical hard rock territory in regards of the all known recurrent themes, it also manages not to be cringe worthy or cheesy. I would highly recommend Inglorious for those who enjoy the hard rock stylings of Deep Purple, Whitesnake or Rainbow, to name a few, but with a more contemporary feel.

All the songs on this album were written by the band members, although they had some writing sessions with John Mitchell and Nathan James had the opportunity to write also with Al Pitrelli (Megadeth, Alice Cooper), Angus Clark (TSO, Rock of Ages), Joel Hoekstra (Night Ranger, Whitesnake) and Neil Fairclough (Queen).

Inglorious self-titled debut album will be out on February 19th via Frontiers Music Srl. You can pre-order the album from either iTunes or Amazon.

Inglorious will support their debut album touring with The Winery Dogs on their European Tour and head-lining their own shows, which Moshville Times will definitely cover next year.

Inglorious track list: