I am so glad when up and coming bands appear in the musical forefront with absolutely no intention whatsoever of reinventing the wheel and retaining an honest approach in paying tribute to past decades without being copycats but adding their personal mark, too. That being said, Flying Mercury fits perfectly in this category. You slip the album on your CD player and you found yourself being transported in 1987 when huge keyboards, flashy guitars, pounding drums, big hair, colourful image and an overall positive attitude towards life itself ruled the hard rock world! US melodic hard rock mixed with the radio friendly AOR sound is undeniably the foundation where the Flying Mercury sonic skyscraper (David Lee Roth, anyone?) lies. And if you think, that this where the guys stop…well, think again!
The aforementioned 80s hard rock is enriched with some modern elements cued from the Scandinavian scene of the last decade and Flying Mercury is absolutely on fire. Just imagine the atmosphere of Whitesnake’s “1987”, the cool breeze of Europe’s “Out of this World” and somewhere along those lines there comes Rainbow (J.L. Turner era) with the unique sense of melody by the mighty FM. I am sure you know what I am talking about…if not, check out the anthemic tunes “Magnetic Attraction” and “Unwavering Faith” and you’ll get a fine picture.
Would I have been more content with a better production (especially in the drum sound)? Yeah! Do the boys need to work harder? That goes without even saying! The truth, though, is that this first album kicks major ass and that’s really what counts! Let’s hope that in due time we will have the physical product of the album.
Highlight: Some sources say that Flying Mercury is already working on their second album…
