Diesel - Into The Fire (2014)

Genre - Classic Rock / Hard Rock / Melodic Rock

Label - Escape Music

Track listing:

01 - Love Under Cover

02 - Into The Fire

03 - Starting Over

04 - Fortune Favors The Brave

05 - Brand New Day

06 - Bitter & Twisted

07 - So What Is Love

08 - Lets Take The Long Way Home

09 - Told You So

10 - What You See Ain’t What You Get

11 - Skin & Bone

12 - Coming Home

DIESEL is the new outfit comprising the creative talents of ex- Bad Company, current Manfred Mann's Earth Band and superb solo artist / singer Robert Hart and British AOR legends FM guitarist Jim Kirkpatrick, with Jimmy Copley (Jeff Beck Band) on drums and Pat Davey on bass.
As you could imagine, expect some classic English melodic hard rock within their debut album "Into The Fire", to be released by Escape Music.
Actually, Diesel sounds exactly like late '80s Bad Company meets FM, or vice versa, but with the addition of a classic rock feeling.
Listening to Hart's voice, you can hear why he was picked to front that iconic UK blues hard rock band. Couple his voice with the music of "Fortune Favors The Brave", "What You See Ain't What You Get" or "Brand New Day", and you might think you were listening to a Bad Company song, yet with less slow burning blues and more frisky Eighties melodic rock.
I love "Coming Home", the more AOR number on the disc with a lovable main melody.
Other songs sound like they could jump off the next FM album like the pulsating opener "Love Under Cover", the awesome midtempo "So What Is Love", or the sharp 'n rockin "Told You So" with some AOR in it. Most of this comes from Kirkpatrick's crack rock leads, but also his sense of groove and melody.
Then "Bitter & Twisted" flips both scenarios on their heads giving you a more dense Whitesnake bluesy hard rock feel. Hart might even be able to fill in for Coverdale in a clutch. Some of that blues feel can get harder as within "Skin & Bone", thanks to the ham-fisted riffs and deep bottom end.
Diesel’s first album "Into The Fire" is a great, solid piece of AOR-ish Melodic Hard Rock with a Classic Rock feeling, with equal focus on catchy melodies and outstanding musicianship.
Considering Robert Hart’s musical past, it seems logical that one subconsciously expects some traces of Bad Company’s style in here. But don't forget the man has released AOR oriented terrific solo albums as well, and Kirkpatrick knows 'something' of this game too. So we have the best of both worlds on "Into The Fire".
The greatest asset to this material, most probably, is that it portrays the musicians of Diesel as they succeed in striking a balance between the expected homage to musical tradition of their respective past (Bad Company, FM) and the contemporary AOR / melodic hard rock sound. The result is that their music is neither 'dated', nor modern – just a compromise between the two.
All songs are good, the playing pretty darn terrific (with Kirkpatrick generous with his spry leads) and the production crisp and warm.
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Rating - 9/10