Album review: DEREK DAVIS – Re Volt
Apocalyse Records
Former BabylonA.D. vocalist Derek Davis describes his music as ‘Balls out heavy rock with some revolutionary angst’, and it’s hard to argue with his sentiments, though you do wonder just what he’s angry about.
If it’s creeping corporatism then he doesn’t make it clear enough. And when he does lay his cards on the table as on the self evidently titled ‘American Jihad’, it sounds jingoistic, though we can all probably relate to the core line; ‘Black White, Red, Brown, Yellow and poor, We give it to the rich and they’re closing the door’.
There’s lot of middle aged aggression and dark lyrics to match some pulverising rock on this album. You suspect most rock fans will down a few beers and search for the riffs and booming choruses, but when it’s all channelled into well thought out arrangements such as ‘Bad Man Cometh’, Derek shows himself capable of so much more. With a combination of dark lyrics, pounding drums, AC/DC style vocals played out over a sublimated disco beat and a closing rap, you can almost forgive the hackneyed lyrics.
‘Tied Down and Hammered’ evokes the lyrics on another hard rocker with bursting guitars, raspy vocals, while the Glen Hughes style vocal angst of ‘Judas Kiss’ is as musically heavy as the revenge filled lyrics.
But there’s more to Derek Davis than anger filled bluster and neo revolutionary intent. He’s a talented multi instrumentalist who plays all the parts on half a dozen tracks. He also nails down a big production which moves the album from its hard rock pretensions and the cinema screen narrative of ‘Hollywood Heartbreak’ to the crisply recorded acoustic and voice of ‘Troubadour’.
Significantly, the heartfelt lyrics and subtle Latino beat of ‘The Promise’ has been chosen as the lead single. It’s a polished affair with a catchy hook, almost at odds with some of the doom and gloom of his other songs.
It also bring a welcome respite in the middle of an album that opens with blood and thunder and moves to an unlikely acoustic ballad, and then rocks out as it reaches for another big production moment on the jagged guitar lines, chanted hook and machine gun drum roll of ‘Love Star’. But he finishes with a reprise of his late 80’sBabylonA.D. commercial ballad ‘Desperate’, suggesting that underneath the vitriol there’s a melodic song writer at heart.
‘Re Volt’ is a mish-mash of the good, the bad and the misjudged. Derek has a great voice, and can rock with the best of them and as this album shows. He is a solid songwriter who needs a touch of lyrical guile, perhaps less anger and stronger definition of his revolutionary intent. After all you can hardly overturn a status quo with the very music from which they made their millions.
*** (3/5)
Review by Pete Feenstra
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KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)
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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)
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