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Self Release [Release date 31.10.23]
‘Are We Invisible?’ is a promising debut album by Long Road Home, a new British guitar and keyboard driven veteran rock-blues band, with bluesy, proggy, AOR and occasional southern rock influences.
They don’t so much offer new wine in old bottles as simply a refreshing take on rock without the clichés.
It’s a tasteful album with an essential layered sound and tidy arrangements born of well chosen material, presided over by vocalist Mike Sebbage who pens 9 of the 11 songs and hovers over all the tracks with a sense of restraint.
His timbre perfectly suits the occasional AOR vibe, but while consistently serving the song he ends up singing within his range and sometimes eschews the opportunity to attack the material with a little more gusto.
His vocal is also sometimes mixed too far back as on ‘In For The Kill’ which opens like a classic Kansas or Boston song, but settles on a slow build with a layered sound. Coming on the back of the relaxed groove of ‘Eye On You’, it gives the album too much to do in terms of dynamics.
The upshot is 11 well honed songs which rock hard, but only occasionally cut loose on the back of Steve Summers fiery guitar work.
Vocalist Sebbage is at his best on the buzz tone-led and powerful hook of ‘Long Road Home’ and the Robin Trower influenced ‘I Lose Again’, which cleverly contrasts his vocal clarity with a heavy riff driven approach.
He’s equally good on the aptly titled ‘What They Call The Blues’ which is another smouldering Trower influenced piece. The palpable tension is partially resolved by Summer’s well crafted wah-wah solo, but a sudden fade robs the track of its denouement.
Contemporary technology aside, ‘Are We Invisible?’ is an album which could have been made anytime in the early 70’s. It’s not quite classic rock, but does lean on familiar influences such as Robin Trower, Procol Harum, Deep Purple and even ZZ Top.
The Top styled boogie of ‘Gone Gone Gone’ finds vocalist Sebbage significantly toughening a Billy Gibbons vocal style, albeit on a curious diffident mix which robs the track of its inherent vitality.
No matter, this is a coherent and well structured album with a beginning, middle and send, with the band’s titled opener establishing a riff driven rolling groove template. It’s punctuated by the first of several eloquent guitar solos from Steve Summers, neatly counterweighted Ian Salisbury’s organ solo and back to the riff and out.
The album has a meticulous attention to detail, from Summers contrasting tones to Salisbury’s keyboard versatility, all anchored by Derek White’s mellifluous bass lines (check out the walking bass on ‘Eye On You’), which he impressively locks in with 3 different drummers to provide subtle dynamic contrast.
It’s an album that will appeal to rock fans of certain age, but what is missing is an edgy production. The presence of Ian Salisbury’s keyboard abilities should have been the band’s trump card, but while he pushes the band into Deep Purple territory on ‘Where I Wanna Be’, he’s more of a predictable presence on the funky and gnawing riff-driven ‘I Don’t Belong Here’. He delivers a short and telling solo, but given what’s gone before it almost sounds like a recurring motif too many.
Then again, he’s an integral part of the band sumptuous layered sound, especially on ‘Waiting For The Kill’ on which his subtle synth wash and threaded organ line helps push the song into the hook.
Better still, he’s the perfect foil for guitarist Summers on the closing ‘Perfect Afternoon’. A combination of the acoustic into slide opening, a Southern rock unison guitar line and a thumping organ and guitar driven groove is topped by sing-along chanted hook which rounds of a promising debut album with a welcome blast of frisson. ****
Review by Pete Feenstra
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