Chris Catalyst -Life Is Often Brilliant (2017)

Genre - Rock / Pop / Alternative

Label - Pledge Music

Track listing:

01 - No regrets

02 -Same Old Sun

03 - Cracking Up

04 - Yeah - Oh No

05 - Wake Me Up On Monday

06 - How Do You Sleep

07 - Distance Over Time

08 - I Hope We Always Stay The Same

09 - Sticks and Stones

10 - Far

11 - You Die At The End

12 - Able Seamen

13 - When We Fall Apart (Bonus Track)

2016 proved to be a busy year for Eureka Machines main man, Chris Catalyst. Although his main band had decided to take some time out, he performed a few solo shows, a couple of shows with Ginger Wildheart,  played guitar for US rockers Ugly Kid Joe on their tour and toured with UK veteran rockers Terrorvision too. He also managed to find the time to record his rather excellent debut solo album too, and here it is in the form of Life Is Often Brilliant!
The album opens with the excellent 'No Regrets'. A great song with a stop start type of riff intro and a hugely melodic chorus section. Brilliant start to Life Is Often Brilliant!
'Same Old Sun' is up next, its intro changing the feel completely before the song kicks in. Once again the song has a huge chorus section. Next we have 'Cracking Up' which has a great opening riff. he rest of the song is pretty awesome too! Tons of tempo changes and vocal harmonies. 'Yeah - Oh No' follows, which has a rather Eureka Machines feel to it, only not as heavy. 'Wake Me Up On Monday' is just a great melodic track that would have fit perfectly on to any of the Eureka Machines albums. Great choice for a single! Another of the albums many highlights follows in the form of the awesome 'How Do You Sleep At Night'. This song is quickly becoming one of my favourite songs of all time! 'Distance Over Time' is up next. A beautiful atmospheric intro that just builds into an absolute monster of a song! Yet another highlight! Next up is 'I Hope We Always Stay The Same' which builds in a similar way to its predecessor, and proves to be every bit as much a great track!
'Sticks and Stones' follows, now I didn't really like this song when I first heard it, but it is a real grower, and sounds so much better within the context of this album! 'Far' follows, with its slick bridges and awesome harmonies. Yet another brilliant song. 'You Die At The End' is the albums penultimate song and an absolute classic ta boot! The album closes out with the subtle 'Able Seamen' but I've included the last track, 'When We Fall Apart' as a bonus track for a couple of reasons. Firstly its an absolutely excellent song that deserves to be on the album, and secondly, it was a given away as a bonus track at the very beginning of the pledge campaign, and is thus still available to anyone that pledges for the album!
Once again with Life Is Often Brilliant Chris Catalyst proves what a great song writer and musician he really is!

Life Is Often Brilliant is a blinding debut solo album from one the hardest working and most talented Uk musicians out there. Do yourselves a bloody huge favour and grab yourself a copy!

Rating: 10/10

Tony Wright - Walnut Dash (2016)

Genre - Hard Rock

Label - Pledge Music / Self Released

Track listing:

01 - Music Is The Food Of Love

02 - One Size Fits All

03 - Lost Property

04 - A & E

05 - Life's Too Short

06 - Rise Up

07 - Delete Repeat

08 - Spoons And Knives

09 - The Blues

10 - Where Would I Be

11- Opposites Attract

Terrorvision front man, Tony Wright, returns with his second solo album, Walnut Dash,  the follow up to 2015's mainly acoustic affair, Thoughts and All. This time around we get a full blown electric album, and what a great album it is too!
The album opens with "Music Is The Food Of Love", which really sets the tone for the album. A great melodic anthemic rock song, as catchy as hell, and well just a bloody great song! "One Size Fits All" follows, another great melodic rock track. "Lost Property" is up next, with its great acoustic Bluesy intro that leads into another great rocker! "A&E" follows with its spaghetti western feel intro, another great song, one of my personal favourites on the album. It also has a blistering guitar solo! "Life's Too Short" is up next, with its gentle beginning, and bluesey undertones. Another great song. Next we have "Rise Up",  a song that bursts onto the scene before dropping back to an acoustic driven rocker. One of the heaviest tracks on the album despite its great tempo changes and acoustic sections. "Delete Repeat" follows, now this really is my favourite song on the album, just simply perfect. Acoustic driven with some great tempo changes and heavy sections. A follow on to "Do You Love Me" from last years Thoughts And All. Next we have "Spoons and Knives", that once again begins as an acoustic driven track, with loads of atmosphere before exploding into a great rock track! "The Blues" follows, a great song with a southern blues feel to it.. The albums penultimate song is "Where Would I Be" which is again a moody acoustic driven song. Another great song. The album closes out with "Opposites Attract", which just happens to be another of my favourite songs on the album, A great fun song.

This album is a bloody great album that should appeal to anyone who is familiar with Tony Wrights previous releases, either solo or with Terrorvision.

Very Very Highly recommended!

Rating - 10/10

Pre order the album here at:

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/tonywright2

Tony Wright (Terrorvision) - Thoughts 'n' All (2014)

Genre - Rock / Acoustic

Label - Pledge Music / Woodcut Records

 

Track listing:

01. Self Portrait (Rock a Boogie Merchant)

02. Love Hold On

03. You Changed

04. Little Things

05. Great Horton

06. Shallow Pool (Train Wreck)

07. Roll Over

08. Do You Love Me?

09. Gunner Getcha

10. All Of My Love ###### The following review is not my work, but I simply couldn't find a better way to describe things, therefore all credit must please go to the original author! ####### "For some reason, Terrorvision have never been a particularly cool band to like, although, it has to be said, “Tequila” did make them flavour of the month for a short while. However, from the moment I heard “Pretend Best Friend” and “Oblivion” back when I worked in a record shop in 1994, I was hooked on the Yorkshire band's material and have followed their career ever since, quietly resenting and trying to educate the people who seemed to think that the band's quasi-novelty hit was the only thing they'd ever really done. When I happened to stumble on Tony Wright's PledgeMusic solo album project, helping that happen was something I definitely wanted to get on board with. I've had “Thoughts 'n' All” for a few months now, have had plenty of time to get to know it and it's a rather fine acoustic album from Tony and Milly (Milton Evans, also of Terrorvision). I have to confess that I wasn't sure just how much Tony's material and voice would suit an acoustic-based record, but it instantly won me over. This is a collection of well-written, likeable, lovingly performed songs which have many characteristics of Terrorvision's work, but with a greater subtlety and finesse. The album kicks off with the very decent autobiographical “Self Portrait” which sees Tony taking a bit of a critical look in the mirror, followed by the tender “Love Hold On” relating the often told story of one person loving the other when the feeling is no longer mutual. “You Changed”, with a nice bit of slide guitar, continues the subject where the previous song left off and it's most definitely something that many listeners will be able to relate to. “Little Things” is a fairly pleasant song, but, if I'm honest, the lyrics in the chorus could have been slightly better. The first truly great song of the album is “Great Horton”, describing a typical night out in a suburb of Bradford, including drinking, covers bands, pool, club and curry; seriously, it's worth the price of the album alone. “Shallow Pool” has some great lyrics and an excellent light and shade character to the verse and chorus, whereas the mellow “Roll Over” is probably the most catchy, instantly likeable piece on the whole record. “Do You Love Me” is dramatic, pained, tortured and utterly brilliant, “Gunner Getchta” almost sounds like Terrorvision unplugged and would really benefit from the band's rock treatment, although it does boast a rather fine Spanish guitar solo, and final song “All Of My Love” is a passionate piece featuring some excellent acoustic guitar work. All-in-all, a gratifying forty minutes worth of music. I don't think that many people who have followed the band over the years will be too surprised by how good “Thoughts 'n' All” is and, perhaps, they will be the main audience for this album anyway. However, it would be a crying shame if this album was only listened to by such a limited circle of music lovers; Tony's début solo effort deserves to be heard by a much wider range of people, as it is a bloody good singer-songwriter album, boasting a high level of musicianship and a great deal of heart. For those not quite sure about the acoustic nature of the release, I would strongly recommend that you leave any of those reservations aside and give it a chance, as many of the elements that make up a classic Terrorvision song are all present and correct here, just in a slightly more refined form. With songs about drinking, nostalgia, love, longing and heartbreak, Tony has released a piece of work that most of his fans will be able to relate to, sing along with and will, most likely, love." (Reviewed By Andy Sweeney) Very highly recommended! Rating 10/10

Therapy? - A Brief Crack Of light (2012)

Genre - Alt-Raock / Brit Rock / Hard Rock

Track listing -

01. Living In The Shadow Of The Terrible Thing (3:57)
02. Plague Bell (4:12)
03. Marlow (4:36)
04. Before You, With You, After You (3:32)
05. The Buzzing (3:39)
06. Get Your Dead Hand Off My Shoulder (4:08)
07. Ghost Trio (5:20)
08. Why Turbulence (3:33)
09. Stark Raving Sane (2:37)
10. Ecclesiastes (5:43)


Therapy? along with many of the other leading lights of the mid 1990's Brit Rock scene such as The Wildhearts, 3 Colours Red, Terrorvision, and Honeycrack knew how to merge beautiful pop sensibilities with heavy riffs, something thankfully Therapy? have never forgotten! The result a special dynamic to their sound, leaving it almost ageless.
A Brief crack Of Light, seems to see the band finding a new wave of inspiration, as there just seems to be be something more refreshed about this album. From the opening track, and lead single, Living In The Shadow Of A Terrible Thing, the band sets the standards extremely high. Its a cracking track, heavy yet strewne throughout with enough pop sensibilities to make Bruno Mars envious!
Therapy? have always managed to mix agression with a certain amount of funk, and this new album is no exception, its Therapy? through and through. 10 cracking tracks, 9 rockers / stompers and one err, well not really a ballad, but a dreamy little closer of a track in the form of Ecclesiates.

A Brief Crack of Light proves that Therapy? have plenty of life in them yet, they still seem to be full of great ideas and more importantly songs.
Highlight tracks include,
Living In The Shadow of A Terrible Thing, Get Your Dead Hand Off My Shoulder, Marlow, and Ecclesiates
A welcome return for one of my teenage heroes!

Rating 10/10

Terrorvision - Super Delux

Genre - Rock / Pop / Metal / BritRock
Label - Total Vegas Recordings

Track Listing
01. Demolition Song
02. Hold Tight
03. Neighbourhood
04. Pushover
05. This Is Suicide
06. Babylon
07. All the Girls Wanna Dance
08. Friend in Need
09. Rock Radio
10. Shiny Things
11. Run & Hide

After a 10 year absence from the recording studio, Terrorvision return with a new studio album, and I’m glad to say, it’s a true return to form with the band going back to what bought them to the dance in the first place.
This album contains all the pop bounce and northern whit that made albums like How To Make Friends And Influence People and Regular Urban Survivors so great. These guys just haven’t lost their touch.
The energy is still there and so is the song writting quality, and songs like Demolition Song, Pushover, This Is Suicide, All Girls Wanna Dance (a sucessor to Oblivion?), Friend In Need and Babylon are welcome additions to the Terrorvision arsenal.
This is great album and great reminder of days gone by, now all we need is Ginger to get The Wildhearts back together along with a 3 Colours Red and Honeycrack reunion and we can have the 2nd coming of Britrock!
Viva la revolution!

Website – Terrorvision Rating - 10/10