Review by Ritchie Birnie for MPM
Do you want an incredible hair metal album? do you want a concept album? Do you want a brand new band that will take you back to 1980s MTV? Do you want the best debut of the year? If the answer to any of those is yes let me introduce you to your next musical love…The Switch.
This album is my wheelhouse, I listen to it and can imagine a world where Grunge never existed, MTV still played music and the ozone layer was still fucked from hairspray use.
Somebody get this album to James Gunn as I have just found Peacemaker season 3s soundtrack…now which track will be kept for the dance scene?
The album kicks off with “Danger on the Loose” and this has anthem written all over it. This is the type of track that broke Def Leppard in the USA. This had me diving for my Hardline albums as soon as it was over. A polished track that introduces us to the band beautifully.
The keyboards are out in force on “Play the Game” and you will instantly realise why the band describe themselves like steering a Testerossa in the Outrun arcade game while chewing juicy fruits and cranking music on your Walkman. That is one nail hit perfectly on the head. This is catchy, powerful and a serious earworm.
“Young Hearts” is one of those youthful, hormone driven powerhouse tracks that will have you singing at the top of your lungs in the car and playing drums on the steering wheel. This album should come with a fun warning as I am smiling from ear to ear and if anything is going to get me dancing naked in the rain at my age it is this, so maybe it should also come with a get out of jail free card too.
“Search for Love” has the band Skagarack written all over it. You cannot have a hair metal album without a ballad and this song has that in spades. Power, keyboards, clappy claps and stunning, husky, oh your panties just fell off sweetheart vocals from Bobby John. I swear this was written for The Breakfast Club. I swooned so hard I am on the floor.
Hair Metal 101, come out of a ballad with a killer riff and “Hangin on to 17” has ticked that box. With all these analogies you may think I am taking the piss but this album really does rock. This hit me in the feels like a junkie hitting that vein for the first time. This may not be the first time for me (musically) but having lived and loved everything 80s this is Nostalgia that really grabbed me like it did all those decades ago and I fucking love it.
“No Way Out” kicks off like The Running Man and the track hits as hard as Arnie and without the cheesy one liners. This one is a beast of a song. The band have written a real classic here.
The pace picks up on “Young Gun”, the drums blast the song forward, the keys punctuate throughout and the vocals take the song to another level. It soars and it came to kick ass and chew gum but it is all out of gum.
The base line for hair metal is one ballad per album but if you have two fuck yeah and so now we have “One Night with You”. The ballad recipe is followed perfectly so you have another baby conception number to add to the list.
“Anytime” was my least favourite track but hey, when you have so many bangers who cares but then there is album closer “Strangers Eyes” and we are a whole level above here. This skates a line very close to The Thompson Twins or Howard Jones but it hangs onto its Rock routes just enough to keep the horns in the air (alongside your lighter).
No Way Out refuses to hide from what it is, a Hair Metal masterpiece. It Rocks, it takes you back in time and it is a bucketful of fun. I have not enjoyed a debut album this much in years. Do yourself a favour and get this in your ears now then dig out your old suede and buckle cowboy jacket a la Bon Jovi…the 80s are back mutherfuckers.
Buy/Stream “No Way Out” HERE
Line Up:
James Martin
Tom Martin
Bobby John
Dennis “Butabi” Borg
