Album review : VOODOO CIRCLE – Hail To The King

AFM Records [Release date 15.11.24]

Love Whitesnake? Love Rainbow? Love Led Zeppelin?

Here’s Voodoo Circle, just for you.

12 magnificent tracks. 60 magic minutes. Their finest hour.

Sturdily melodic, hardbodied rock songs come at you relentlessly. You wait for the quality control to falter, but no, the band stride through HTTK, fleet footed and steady of step, without a single false move or a solitary stumble. Impressive.

Alex Beyrodt, the band’s guitarist, songwriter and “mastermind”, makes no bones about his and his band’s influences. Mat Sinner, David Readman and Markus Kullmann are self confessed, died in the wool fans of all of the above.

‘Let It Rock’ overcomes its familiar sentiments to state its case. A classic rock band on the move. Beyrodt spices the production and arrangements with the occasional contemporary conceit, as if to confirm that the band are still in touch with today.

The steamrolling ‘Black Country’ and ‘Sweet Little Sister’ deliver towering hooks on the back of strident, take-no-prisoners rock riffage. This is Voodoo Circle in full flight, where every track trails tuneful turbulence in its wake.

Two Tony (Rainbow) Carey songs from 20 years ago, ‘All For One’ and ‘Billys Song’, clearly have meaning for Beyrodt. He builds them into memorably melodic classic rock songs, each resonating with the kind of atmospheric density and urbanity of tone that many metal bands aim for, but few achieve.

The marginally more thoughtful ‘Lay Down Your Lovin’ is similar in style, rising through the levels, from slow and smoky to a convincingly powerful and confessional chorus.

‘On The Edge’, ‘Castles Of Glass’ and ‘Stand Your Ground’ aim to pick up on Led Zeppelin’s sonic precedents from 50 years ago, mixing hard rock with proto metal, and it sounds fresh, maybe because it’s skipped a couple of generations.

Classy album from a class band. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

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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)