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Artist: Phil Vincent |
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Once in while you come across
a hidden gem of an album amongst all the big names that we’re used to,
This time Phil Vincent takes this accolade with his latest release,
‘Passion and Pain’ as it's well deserved. The multi talented Vincent has been releasing full length albums since 1996’s ‘Rising’, so he’s no stranger to the game and has gone from strength to strength resulting with this album that opens with, the meaty guitared ‘New Way To Live’. You can tell that this is
going to be for the grown-ups amongst us, not the bairns who prefer the
tryers and fall-byers in Kerrang-World, this is proper grown up rock of
total energy. The head banging riffs on
‘Locked Up In Love’ make you realise what’s been missing from bands
these days, whilst Vincent himself sings with a lot of the passion but
thankfully none of the pain which suits the songs perfectly, he does so on
‘Coming Apart At the Seams’ that wouldn’t be a million miles away
from something Velvet Revolver would try their hand at. A touch of class follows
with ‘Rumors (pt 1 + 2)’, a pop/rocker based around the piano and
guitars that makes this track stand out above the rest, as its one of
those songs you don’t expect to hear on this type of album, but it’s a
godsend for the AOR fans out there. You can see why Vincent
originally set out in a career to write for others, but fortunately ended
up doing things for himself as this song would be wasted on someone else. The only disappointing song
on the album is the slow, but heavy guitared ‘One Chance’ that comes
across a bit dragged out as it goes along, but that’s probably due to
the fact that everything else is at a faster pace, as is ‘Keep Runnin’
with its swirling, atmospheric intro that flows into a mid-paced
head-nodding track. Its back down to earth with
a bump as the thumping drums introduce ‘Will You Remember’ and then
the guttural roar that drags you into ‘Wasting My Time’, both hard
guitar driven songs, making sure you know that its still a classic rock
album after all, even with the lighter songs here and there, proving that
Vincent has a calmer side to him. It comes across again on
‘Who Do You Think You Are’, another easy sounding song that won’t
have you reaching for the ‘skip’ button on your stereo, more foot
tapping along, then ‘I Want You Now’ that is showcasing him at his
funky best, those grinding guitars and erm… expressive vocals putting
the message across as directly as one could, surely the best ending of an
album in a long time. If this album proves one
thing, then it's that you shouldn’t always go for big name bands to
usually get a decent album, give the less well known names a try because
you’ll be surprised how good they are. Overlook this album and you’ll
be missing out, so give it a go. Review by Bob |
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Tracklisting:
1. New Way To Live
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All content copyright of The Mayfair Mall Zine unless otherwise stated. |
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