Album review: JUPITER FALLS – Revolution

Broken Road Records [Release date: 10.08.15]

This is a stunning debut from the young Yorkshire hard rockers. Jupiter Falls hail from Morley, Leeds and have delivered a confident, varied album of quality tunes, strong performances and massive promise.

Formed only in 2013, they have already snagged a big name producer in the shape of Roy Z to handle this project. A technician with Judas Priest and Yngwie Malmsteen on his CV is a massive asset for anyone’s product, but this album should not be judged solely on its fine production. ‘Revolution’ is a strong album from start to finish by any recognised measure.

All the touchstones you could want in a classic metal-cum-hard rock album are here in spades. Influences culled from all the right bands at the right time are welded into a unique unrelenting slab of aural nirvana.

‘Awake’ is a perfect album opener and immediately shows the confidence of the band when vocalist James Hart stage-whispers some rather famous lines from the children’s prayer ‘Now I lay me down to sleep’. Comparisons with Hetfield and co hold no fears for these boys.

The track then kicks in and on with staggering, doom-tinged riffs and a brooding arrangement. That dark-ish theme is picked up elsewhere on the album. ‘Forgiven’ has some delicious growling guitars and ‘Bitter’ packs a stark, grinding punch in a dream-like Paradise Lost resurrection.

Then there are the nods to Maiden, Dio and Slash across tracks like ‘Chasing The Dragon’ and ‘To The Point’. The former is a stunning, fast paced classic metal boogie driven by fat, artery-clogging riffs way off the calorific counter. Tasty.

You want ballads? Check out ‘World War Three’ with its naked acoustic guitar intro, gravelly, layered vocals and worldy-warning message. ‘When The Time Is Right’ is another to mow down the unwary. Sitting atop the pile, however, is the Foo Fighter-ish ‘Someday’ with its grandstanding, sweeping and emotive vocal from Hart and precise, commanding playing from Deano Silk on lead guitar.

The musicianship is of the highest calibre throughout the album. Hart and Silk should rightly take the plaudits. Hart, at his best – say ‘Story of a Liar’ or ‘End of the World’ – has the scope and phrasing of Myles Kennedy. Silk is brimming with technical skills and also grasps the subtleties of pace and dynamics that change a good track in to an excellent one – ‘Bitter’, for instance.

The rest of the band deliver too. The rhythm guitar and bass/drum unit is rock solid everywhere. Drummer Lewie Lewington particularly steps forward on incredible ‘Lei E Quella’ with a complex bass drum weave and an off beat rhythm that provides the back drop to yet more towering vocals.

There are many highpoints here, but none more so than the finale, ‘Where Are You Now’, which plucks many of the finer points from what has gone before into a show-stopper: a carefully constructed melody, this time underscored by sparse keyboard and string synth; seismic riffs; killer solo; and a splintering vocal.

‘Revolution’ really does have everything. It is bold and diverse and yet cohesive and fresh. It is a very, very fine debut. Very fine. No question it deserves the full five-digit rating. Surely this band are destined for big things. Exciting times. *****

Review by Dave Atkinson

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)