BEGGARS & THIEVES – We Are The Broken Hearted

January 2nd, 2012 by GRTR! HQ

One of a number of excellent melodic hard rock bands who had
the misfortune to release and promote their debut albums just as the tide was
beginning to turn in favour of grunge, Beggars and Thieves re-emerged from obscurity
with a performance which was one of the pleasant surprises of Firefest 2010,
and building on that revival of interest, have now recorded their first album
in well over a decade.

A health warning is in order, that this is not overtly commercial
melodic rock, with effort put into less obvious soundscapes and textures. While the crystal precision of Louie
Merlino’s vocal tones invite comparisons with bands like Diving for Pearls or
Tall Stories, I detected something Jimmy Page inspired in guitarist Ronnie Mancuso’s sounds, whether
with some 12 string guitar passages or an Eastern feel in places. Another
influence from outside the melodic rock mainstream is U2, particularly with
some choppy guitar sounds on Innocence and Midnight Blue, which are two of the
more straight ahead rockers on offer.

Despite a stirring opener in We Come Undone, at times the
first part of the album loses focus in places, but the second half has the
stronger hooks, beginning with Seven Seconds, while on Stranded and the slow
number Wash Away with its gospel-influenced chorus, Louie sounds a tad like modern
day Jon Bon Jovi .

Unlike many albums in this genre which are pure instant
fixes, this is a quality piece of work which you need to cultivate and tender,
but will be worth the effort.

Andy Nathan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

Next session: Sunday 1 December

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Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024

ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)