PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Ive been looking forward to reviewing this, but Christmas got in the way, and then a few rush jobs turned up, and this got knocked back down the list, however as time moved on, I knew I had to pull my finger out and write this up, so here goes.
It’s hard to believe that DAYLIGHT ROBBERY have only been together since September 2010. Over this time, they have opened the prestigious Z-Rock festival for IT-BITES, toured with URIAH HEEP and recorded their debut album ‘CROSS YOUR HEART….’ All within this short period of time.
Daylight Robbery are a Birmingham-based rock band comprising Tony Nicholl (vocals), Mark Carleton (guitars), Murdoch (bass), Ben Dixon (drums) and Duncan Cook (keyboards). I had noted that they claim to be “The New Kings of Heavy Melodic Rock”
So this cd had better be good, and it is, its not only very good, its fucking awesome, one of the best releases I’ve heard in a long time, and will almost certainly be in my top 10 of the year.
The sound of the band is classic 80´s rock; think Icon, Shy, mixed with a bit of Winger, and your there.
A glorious solo opens track one, ‘Cross Your Heart’, the production is crisp, and clean, soaring vocals and a chorus other bands would kill for.
“Shame On You”, is next up, as with most of these tracks, the band put melodies and choruses first, or at least on equal footing to the well crafted music, outrageous good melodies and incredible chorus blend to make a record of outstanding quality.
Some nice piano touches on “Crossing The Great Divide” make this the stand out track, at just over eight minutes long, it proves the band can write more than a “Radio friendly” tune, the depth of song writing here is astonishing.
All the songs on this release are of the highest caliber, however there is one fly in the ointment, and for me it’s the penultimate track, “1000 Points Of Light” it just doesn’t fit the album, there’s a good solo in it, the music is hard and driving, sort of early Q5, however it feels, and sounds like another band.
Fortunately the last track “In The Line Of Fire” gets us back on track with a nice slab of Heavy Melodic Rock.
Tony Nicholl’s vocal performance on this is staggering, I wish I had listened to this earlier. 8/10
Cross Your Heart And Hope To Die Track Listing: 
01 – Cross Your Heart
02 – Shame On You
03 – The Perfect Storm
04 – While You Were Sleeping
05 – Crossing The Great Divide
06 – R E U N I T E
07 – Real Love is the Answer
08 – She’s Got Me Understood
09 – 1,000 Points Of Light
10 – In The Line Of Fire
WebSite:
daylight-robbery.co.uk/
reverbnation.com/daylightrobbery
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About David Farrell
