image courtesy of BlitZ

Album Review of BlitZ: Rock City Symphony

You’ve read about BlitZ here before, so you know these guys rock! Last year, I reviewed the band’s Kicking Up a Storm album; well, they’re back and rockin’ as hard as ever with Rock City Symphony. The band is a blast from the past – ’80s-style guitar rock, for the most part, with powerful, almost-always-on-10 vocals that are as important to the songs’ enthusiastic delivery as the dynamic guitarwork.

This Nottingham-based throwback melodic metal outfit is comprised of Stuart Corden (vocals, bass), Kevin Simpson (guitar, keyboards, piano, backing vocals), and Mat Davis (drums, vocals). The trio’s latest full-length release isn’t just a feast for the ears. No, it also comes with an 11-page color comic book that tells the story behind Rock City Symphony. So, you know, multimedia, but the old-school kind.

photo courtesy of BlitZ

Musically, Corden’s voice reminds me of an amalgam of ’80s rock voices, but repeatedly in the band’s songs on this album I hear elements of Kix. I’m not suggesting soundalike vocals, but Corden’s voice has some of the same dynamic elements that made Steve Whiteman such a legendary frontman. Simpson’s axework, meanwhile, can shred, but more often it’s his nimble, tuneful guitar lines that carry the songs forward, slightly reminiscent of late ’80s/early ’90s guitar-driven rock bands like Trixter (especially the album tracks, a bit heavier than the hits but still hook-laden) and Sweet F.A. In any case, BlitZ’s sound is very familiar, but after a few listens, you realize it’s all their own.

Indeed, since I already knew the band, I immediately knew I was listening to a BlitZ record from the opening chords of the album-opening title track, “Rock City Symphony.” And if “Rock City Symphony” sets the album’s tone, then the opening funky hard rock lead-in to second track “Tear Down the Walls” establishes the fact that this band has a variety of influences. Despite a harsh wall of noise that ratchets things up early on, the song soon erupts into a bit of a sing/shout-along with a monster guitar hook that’ll reel in just about any listener.

Mostly fast-paced guitar rock songs follow. There’s “Hurricane,” on which I hear hints of Black ‘N Blue, and “The Score,” which sounds like something current kickass, classic-style, somewhat raw melodic hard rock band Dirtbag Republic might play.

photo courtesy of BlitZ

The album maintains its energy level following “The Score” with “Skin of Our Teeth” until finally slowing things down on “Vampires of the Dawn,” a somewhat hauntingly sparsely instrumented number apart from the build to power during the chorus and the bridge following the second chorus, which leads to a slow-paced, wailing guitar solo. The song’s power holds until the last minute, which is guided by soft piano. In your mind, you may picture a piano being played in a soft mist on the stage as “Vampires of the Dawn” fades out.

The mist dissipates quickly, though, as “Hollow Man” brings the energy and aggression back from its very first notes. It’s a ragged and distorted heavy rock anthem for hollow men (“I was born in a lab, cloned from a rat”), and it sports a really cool blistering axe solo whose intricacy belies the song’s blunt-force heaviness.

“Anti Hero” brings forth a little bit of a heavy prog, storytelling edge, with exactly the sort of rhythm and heavily floating wall of guitar you’d expect to find in progressive-influenced heavy rock songs about fantasy worlds with dragons. Or, perhaps, Norse mythology.

photo courtesy of BlitZ

Put a pin in that thought, though, as “Song 4 Life” is a catchy-af song that blends pop-punk enthusiasm, particularly in the fun chorus, with an old-school Sunset Strip vocal and lyrical vibe. Yes, this one’s probably going get some repeat-play action on your (and my) playlist!

Now, back to that pin. BlitZ goes full-on heavy theatrical with Rock City Symphony‘s penultimate track. Seriously, the opening voice-over could be something a dungeon master might spout at the beginning of a quest, at least if they were a dramatic DM who valued high production value. The song itself mixes ultra-heavy verses that feature the closest to a heavy metal death growl you’ll find on the record with a chorus of “we ride to Valhalla for vengeance” that’s the next-heaviest thing on this record but comes off as almost soaring compared with the verses. Indeed, it’s the polar opposite of the preceding track.

The album closes with “Kick It Up,” a song that could be the featured anthem on any ’70s (or early ’80s) straight-ahead hard rock disc.

Rock City Symphony is a record that’ll give you whiplash. In a good way, if you enjoy when bands show their versatility, as BlitZ has done here. Old-school AOR fans will dig the bookends of “Rock City Symphony” and “Kick It Up,” while the band – as you see from my review – goes both much heavier and much lighter over the course of the record. My personal favorites are the title track, “Tear Down the Walls,” and “Song 4 Life,” but with the song-to-song variance on the disc, I’m sure you’ll have your own faves.