Who's Nigel Bailey?

Who is Nigel Bailey you might ask and you wouldn't be alone in that, I myself only recently hearing the name.  Bailey, a UK musician, Bradford West Yorkshire to be exact, comes from a musical family where both his parents and his younger brother are all musicians.  You could say it's in his blood.  Italy's Frontiers Records signed Nigel Bailey and they struck a deal to record the songs
 that Bailey had been writing and recording for years in his dining room at home.  These songs would ultimately become Bailey's Long Way Down album set for release December 9, 2014 in North America. Somewhere during the process Nigel Bailey was introduced to guitarist Vinny Burns (Dare/Ultravox/Ten/Asia) by Frontiers President Serafino Perugino and the two began to write together.  Things quickly evolved and with the addition of drummer Greg Morgan the band Three Lions was born, the debut album, Three Lions, being issued earlier this year.  The album was well recieved among melodic rock fans and critics and now it's time for Long Way Down, which Bailey promises will be heavier than Three Lions.  Produced by Alessandro Del Vecchio, whose name likely carries more weight than Bailey's, he handles keyboards and backing vocals while also in the fold are: Mario Percudani (guitars) and Alessandro Mori (drums).  Let's get into Long Way Down.

Starting out strong, "Feed the Flames" is first up with an absolute melodic marvel, containing great riffs and a hooky chorus.  Eleven tracks on the album, all well over four minutes, more than half over the five minute mark I hope it keeps up the caliber of this opener.  Check out the video for "In the Name of the King", the second track of the album, frankly no where near as strong as "Feed the Flames" on a first listen for me, but the more I hear it the more I think it's even better, a sleeper perhaps.  "Dirty Little Secret" oozes an 80's vibe that could have easily been heard on rock radio in the day while "Bad Reputation" has a heavier groove to it.  Things slow down a little, but keep the spirit with "Stay" and even slower with "Somewhere in Oslo" serving as the obligatory ballad.  The title track starts out with a tasty little distorted guitar, ramping up the energy once again for one of the standouts on the record.  The ballad, "Spend the Night" is up next and anyone who's read any of my previous reviews knows my thoughts on the majority of these ballad songs, this one is tolerable but I could happily do without it.  "Love Falls Down" is more my style with a good rhythm and catchy harmonies.  "Ticket To Yesterday" is another mid-tempo, verging on ballad style of song, but I do rather like this one, maybe I'm softening up in my old age?  The albums final entry, "Dirty Angel" is without a doubt my pick as best with a pumping, up tempo, hard-driving groove that's bound to be an inclusion on the ole I-pod (MP3 Player)!

It seems to me that the British are cornering or dominating the melodic rock scene this year with bands like In Faith, Bailey, Ten and those are just the albums I've reviewed in the last couple of weeks or so!  If you're a fan of melodic rock pick this one up and also check out what else the British rock scene are offering, methinks you shan't be disappointed old chap.

BUY: Bailey - Long Way Down

Cheers,
The Meister

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PHOTO CREDIT: FRONTIERS RECORDS PRESS KIT 2014

(Bailey's Website) (Bailey Facebook)

Albion Born: A Review of Ten's Albion CD

When I made the decision to trek from Toronto, Canada over to Nottingham, UK for Firefest: The Final Fling in October of this year I knew a good portion of the bands on the roster for the three day event.  Some I knew quite well, some I had been waiting all my life to see live, some I had no idea of and some I was only on the fringes with knowing a few tracks.  Ten was one of those fringe bands.  I knew "of" them more than I knew the music.  I searched out and purchased a compilation release to try and familiarize myself with the material prior to the event.  Quite a few of the songs from The Essential Collection that I had purchased became regulars in my listening rotation.  I purchased two more full releases and again the same result for some of those tracks.  I was well on my way, quickly becoming a Ten fan.

Ten on stage at Firefest 2014 - photo by Shawn Irwin

Ten was born out of what was originally intended to be the third solo effort for British singer Gary Hughes.  Hughes, who had written a whopping 28 songs, joined together with guitarist Vinny Burns (Dare/Ultravox/Asia/FM) and the band evolved from there.  The debut, X, dropped in 1996 to rave reviews and sales and by the end of that year, the songs already written, the sophomore effort, The Name of the Rose landed.  Ten have had some differences in membership over the resulting years, the one constant always being Gary Hughes, but have issued a total of eleven albums including the aforementioned as well as the forthcoming Albion.  For Albion the band sees bassist Steve Mckenna, drummer Max Yates, keyboardist Darrel Treece-Birch and guitarists Dann Rosingana, Steve Grocott and John Halliwell alongside Gary Hughes' vocals.  And yes you did read that correctly, there are three guitarists!  Perhaps a bit overkill and I always smile at my stupid little joke of maybe they're trying to get their membership up to the band's name.

The Thursday night in Nottingham, the night before the concert festivities were to begin, there was an exclusive CD listening party for the first to sign up.  Ten's forthcoming album Albion was on the bill after In Faith's Debut release (In Faith CD Review).  Albion contains ten tracks all decent in length and some awesome cover art from Gaetano Di Falco depicting a medieval style, scantily clad woman holding a sword as fires rage in the background.  We begin with the lead single from the album "Alone in the Dark Tonight"'s charging guitar riff.  This track was rather magical during the Firefest performance as vocalist Gary Hughes requested that as many people film it as possible in their attempt at a Guinness Record for the most camera angles, I really have to remember to get mine posted on the Ten Facebook page!  From there the grinding yet melodic "Battlefield" is a showcase for Hughes.  "It's Alive" is an upbeat rocker while the medieval lyrical subjects of "Albion Born" assist in making it nothing short of spectacular.  The

7 of Ten @ the listening party - photo by Shawn Irwin

 keyboard beginnings of "Sometimes Love Takes the Long Way Home" unfold as the track ramps up.  "A Smuggler's Tale" is probably my top of the heap cut, an epic sounding composition with a great chorus.  The longest selection appears next in "Die For Me" at almost seven and a half minutes that pass by like nothing.  "It Ends This Day" has an infectious groove and chorus while the partially Italian language spoken "Gioco D'Amore" seem to drone on a little bit to me and serves as my least favorite on Albion.  The sound of a pumping heartbeat and tinkling of a piano start of "Wild Horses" explodes for the chorus and ends the record on an extremely high note.

Here's just one of the many fan filmed "Alone In the Dark Tonight" videos from Firefest Nottingham October 2014.  Watch for The Meister's videos from Ten and other Firefest performers coming soon to Decibel Geek's YouTube Channel

From knowing "of" them to album purchasing to concert cheering to joining the Ten Army fan page, I guess you could say I've become a full fledged Ten fan.  Now it's your turn and Albion is a great place to start!

BUY: Ten - Albion

Cheers,
The Meister

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PHOTO CREDIT: SHAWN IRWIN 2014

(Ten Website) (Ten Facebook)

The Storm Has Arrived: In Faith's There's A Storm Coming Review

I discovered this melodic rock masterpiece while over in Nottingham, England for Firefest: The Final Fling Festival October 24-26, 2014.  In Faith is a British outfit made up of former members of Vaughn, Wild and Eden’s Curse/Tainted Nation.  The collaborations originally begun in 1991 with vocalist Pete Godfrey and guitarist Tony Marshall, but nothing came to fruition.  They made contact with each other a few times over the resulting years and finally sat down again and began to

In Faith @ Firefest CD Listening Party Oct 23, 2014 - photo Shawn Irwin

write together in 2012/2013.  Pete Newdeck became involved at the behest of Tony Marshall when he asked Newdeck to help with the drums and the recording process for the material he and Godfrey had crafted.  Newdeck liked the work and quickly became the third member of this band that had still to choose a moniker.  Firefest Festival organizer Kieran Dargan, suggested that the guys write a song that would serve as the international anthem for Firefest X (October 2013).  They chose In Faith as their band's name and with that they began writing, re-writing, tweaking and improving the songs in preparation for an album.  Some assistance was enlisted in the form of Chris Green (Rubicon Cross), Pat Heath (Furyon) and Brooke St. James (Tyketto) on select tracks.  The whole collection was produced by Pete Newdeck and Tony Marshall, engineered and mixed by Pete Newdeck and mastered in Toronto by Harem Scarem's Harry Hess.

The tuning of a radio fades in before the opening song, "Radio", erupts to ride full out in this melodic masterpiece.  There's A Storm Coming was mastered by Harry Hess of Canadian band Harem Scarem and it's readily evident that he and the band have done an incredible job.  Everything is so clear and defined here, an excellent sound all around.  The lead single, "Does It Feel Like Love", is a sing along delight while the awesome "Church of Rock an' Roll" was the theme song written for 2013's Firefest: X Festival.  "Where I Wanna Be" slows things down a little, not something I'm usually a fan of, but can't help toe-tapping and singing along here.  The crunchier "Addicted" is one of the stand outs if I was forced at gunpoint to choose one track over another here.  Another slower track appears next with "If That's What Love Means" and once again, although not my usual preference works well here.  A quick native sounding chanting leads off "All Or Nothing" and the longest track at just over 5 minutes,"In Flames", is nothing short of genre defining.  "A Million Ways" and the acoustic "Leave Me Now" bring us to the final track on There's A Storm Coming.  The hard rockin' "Bitter End" is just that, leaving an empty void until you hit play and start all over again.

Posted on the band's Facebook page on November 11, 2014 was "Theres a storm coming has sold out on Amazon in the UK and NEH records in the states. Reorders have been placed and stock should be in place very soon. Thank you for your support and please be patient."  After being on sale for only about two weeks, in this day and age of the lack of CD buying that's great to see!

The buzz that I've been seeing on this release has been swamping the internet and all of it beyond impressively awesome.  One of the best albums I've heard this year, watch for this effort's placement in my top of 2014.

Cheers,
The Meister

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PHOTO CREDIT: SHAWN IRWIN 2014

(In Faith Website) (In Faith Facebook)