photo courtesy of Head First Entertainment

Album Review of Ghosts of Sunset: No Saints in the City

Melodic hard rock with fast-paced guitars, high-pitched sidewinding vocals, and a hard-pounding rhythm section. Ghosts of Sunset are a feel-good rock ‘n roll band whose comfortably familiar but uniquely original sound would be equally well-suited to a dive bar or an arena stage.

Song-by-song, here’s what you’ll find on this cohesive-yet-diverse album, No Saints in the City.

The record kicks immediately into overdrive, opening with “Tonight,” the kind of gettin’-pumped-up-for-a-night-out anthem that’s a great table-setter for any hard rock album.

image courtesy of Head First Entertainment

Next up is my personal favorite song in the collection, the title track “No Saints in the City.” The guitar hook reminds me of Sleeze Beez’s “Stranger Than Paradise” (an underrated rocker from melodic hard rock’s heyday), but that’s where that comparison ends. The steady beat, the slow builds toward the chorus… this is a total crank-it-up rock song!

“Look Me Up” keeps the energy high as the band’s lyrical content remains focused on the untrustworthy, dirty city streets, driving the song with some recurring hooks and energetic late-song axework.

Next, Ghosts of Sunset slows things down with “If You’re Not Coming Back” because what good is rock album without a ballad? Of course, you can count on this band not to serve up any old standard heartbreak ballad. This one’s dark and gritty.

A faster tempo returns briefly with “Queen of Used to Be” before the band slows things back down with the Skid Row-reminiscent ballad “Love Ain’t Enough.”

photo courtesy of Head First Entertainment

“Bastard of the Bowery” brings a new vibe – a stripped-down, funky rawness – to the mix.

“Puzzled Heart” follows, with a modern spin on the classic psychedelic sixties/seventies rock sound.

Softer, more lightly instrumented, melodic “Tonight You’re Okay” stands out for its airier touch. It’s a tuneful track that’ll become a quick favorite, easily justifying its inclusion among its heavier album-mates.

“Us Against Them” is a chunky rocker that returns to a seedier storyline before the album closes with the heavy, gravelly-vocalled ballad “Something to Believe.”

You’ll feel the power of the songwriting on No Saints in the City perhaps even more than you’ll feel the power of its rhythm section. Ghosts of Sunset is definitely a band you need to check out – a unique voice even in a crowded classic-based melodic hard rock market – and No Saints in the City is an album you owe it to yourself to test-drive.

Liner Notes

Ghosts of Sunset are John Merchant (ex-Dutch Henry frontman) and multi-instrumentalist Todd Long (ex-The Verve Pipe). However, for the lead guitar parts on most of the songs on No Saints in the City, the duo tabbed a parade of top rock ‘n roll axemen. Guest guitarists include Scotty Griffin (Riley’s LA Guns) on “Tonight,” Alex Kane (Life Sex & Death and Enuff Z’Nuff) on “No Saints in the City,” Eric Jayk (Wildstreet) on “Look Me Up,” Mark Tremalgia (Little Caesar) on “If You’re Not Coming Back” and “Something to Believe,” Denny Smith (The Great Affairs) on “Queen of Used to Be,” Lou Musa (The Verve Pipe) on “Love Ain’t Enough,” Mark Knight (ex-Bang Tango) on “Bastards of the Bowery,” James Stevenson (Gene Loves Jezebel) on “Puzzled Heart,” and Loren Molinare (Little Caesar) on “Us Against Them.” Merchant provided all of the axework on “Tonight You’re Okay” himself; so hey, that means one of my favorites on the disc was sans guest shredder.

More Recently

Since the release of No Saints in the City, Ghosts of Sunset released another album, Breathe, in March of this year. The band also has a YouTube video for  “Afterthought,” one of the songs from Breathe.