A melodic, well produced E.P from this British band. ‘Driven’ kicks off the proceedings. It’s a slick piece of melodic rock that doesn’t feel like its 7 minute run time. Like the rest of the cd, it’s very professionally made. It has a very crisp clean sound, with a lot of melody, harmony guitars, tight bass and drumming, little keyboard fills and it’s well sung. It reminded me of Journey in places.
‘Spinning Vortex Of Love’ has a catchy riff and some nice guitar / keyboard interplay in the mid section, with the focus on harmony and melody once again, and plenty of backing vocals. ‘Steel Avenger’ is another longish track at 6 minutes, but once again, the band are inventive enough that it flies by. It builds quite well into a slightly heavier guitar riff, with some effective tempo changes keeping the interest. This track is more in keeping with the sword and sorcery cover. The solo is well played but, I felt it needed to be higher in the mix. A harmonious keyboard and guitar part leads into the final track, ‘Release The Lion Within’. The song features a strong vocal performance, and plenty of melodic rock ensues.
Overall, ‘shafts of steel’ is a decent, listenable E.P of the melodic hard rock genre and well worth a look in.
Chris Greenwood
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