This is the first time I am getting in touch with Newman’s music. Until now I didn’t have the chance to listen any of the 10 previous albums, neither have I seen them live yet. That was unfortunate and I am here to change that. After listening to “Aerial”, I came to the conclusion that Newman are not to be missed. This is a really professional band coming from the UK with an outstanding album and a great music production.
“Aerial” includes exactly what the rest old – but still active bands- are missing, an album full of hit songs! From track one to the end, there are no filler songs and meaningless guitar solos. In one hour you can enjoy 12 of the most well written melodic hard rock songs of 2017 with great vocal choirs. “High Τonight” though has kind of a different approach. The intro sounds like something that Marilyn Manson could have written and also Steve Newman tries to copy a more Ronnie James Dio vocal style. But the rest of the song returns to its roots. By saying that, I don’t want to be the one who finds musical experiments wrong, but it’s very risky and the song can really suck if you are not careful or experienced enough.
Steve Newman’s music and theme of the album seems to be more Journey oriented but with the help of the exceptional music production you can also sense the intense feeling of Gotthard and Pretty Maids! The album was mastered by Harry Hess of Harem Scarem who is mostly now dedicated into recording.
Some of my favorite songs of the new album are “Can’t Stop Loving You”, “Vertigo(Leap Of Faith)”, and “Two Sides”.
“Always Strangers” gets to you immediately with its power and the really intense key notes.
Furthermore, the ballad “Still Bleeding” is one of those songs that you love to listen repeatedly and you never want to press the forward button. It’s a song with a great hook and feeling and it’s definitely written with respect to the listener and not only to fill the album with one more song, like most of the bands usually do when they write a ballad. It’s not easy to write these kind of tunes if you don’t feel them!!
Undeniably, one of the best albums of 2017. Don’t miss out on them live in Athens-Greece at 14th of October!
See you all there
