To be real honest, “Hard to Stop” keeps the best things of “Scape” which are the excitement and the melody. High Spirits are a band that with great mastery are able to combine high doses of adrenalin and emotion, the two most important features in any Hard Rock/AOR bands, if you ask me. But that doesn’t make it an one theme only album. There are NWOBHM moments as well as in “Midnight Sun” and its guitar riffing. The Melodic Hardcore elements added to it help a lot to keep the flame and the excitement. On second thought, or in a deeper analysis, it’s not only the vocals that brought the aforementioned elements. Guitars and drumming brought them too. It’s a slight approach, but enough to make the fan note them. “We Are Everywhere” tells a lot about that. Its guitars are hard and strong repeating the same note for a while with the simplest and direct rhythm. The effect the fan feels in the head making it bang at large.
Unfortunately, today’s Metal is so divided in subgenres that I don’t think this album will be as delightfull to many as it was to me. A real pity. “Hard to Stop” deserves to be appreciated for a larger audience.
By the way, I know that the die hard fan may have noticed, but first track “Since You’ve Been Gone” isn’t a Rainbow cover. Just the names are exactly the same.
High Spirits “Hard to Stop” will be released on July 31st via High Roller Records.
Track Listing:
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Since You’ve Been Gone (5:04)
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Restless
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Face to Face
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Hearts Will Burn
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Voice in the Wind
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All Night Long
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Midnight Sun
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Now I Know
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We Are Everywhere
Watch “Restless” official video here:
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I’m just a lucky guy who has chosen metal to live with for a long time. Metal changed my life for good. It made me more confident and stronger. Metalheads are naturally far away from the mass mediocrity and don’t accept impostures from anybody else. Metal is more than music, it’s a life changing oportunity!