Music > Album Reviews

NWOCR Volume One

19/07/21

Those of you old enough to remember the NWOBHM movement in the eighties, you’ll know that it was one of the most influential periods in rock music, and those bands still influence the musicians of today, and this album is an attempt to celebrate just that, and so the NWOCR is born. I can’t remember the last time I listened to a compilation album, and while I’ve heard of several bands on the album, there are many I’d not yet discovered, so you can imagine I approached this with both excitement and trepidation in equal measure.

Mu first disappointment came on the opening track, and that was the fact the first track was a radio edit, so the naughty words were censored on Massive Wagons’ “Tokyo” although I get it, as this is aimed at being commercially available, and as such should appeal to all, and of course there’s the need forbeing radio friendly. No parental advisories here…. Of course, now I need to listen to the song properly, so I’ll have to check them out, and that’s the whole purpose of this album.

One thing that needs to be taken into consideration, is that most of these tracks were recorded during the pandemic, and with studios closed for well over a year, a lot of this stuff is self-produced and recorded in home studios, and as such, there are a handful of tracks that sound a little raw, but not to the point that they’re absolutely awful, in fact the raw sound adds to the appeal. There’s something brave about submitting a “warts and all” mix to put on a compilation, and that’s to be admired rather than ridiculed.

You can tell that a lot of hard work has gone into making this happen, and the effort of everyone involved is to be applauded, because they’ve achieved something that is pretty damned fine. Singling out tracks on compilations is unfair to others, as each track is very different to the last, and people will have favourites depending on their personal tastes. That’s the beauty of it though, as it gives everyone the opportunity to listen to something new, and inevitably there will be tracks that you don’t like, and that’s perfectly fine.

Being a more modern take on classic rock, there are of course influences from later periods in rock history. While listening I picked up on bands such as LA Guns, Pat Benatar, Faster Pussycat, Black Stone Cherry, Soundgarden and even Nickelback (sorry, not sorry), and much more besides. It’s a varied mix for sure, and I do have to admit I didn’t like all of the tracks, which was inevitable, but never where I felt the need to skip them. There were also tracks that I absolutely loved, and I will be seeking the artists out to listen to more.

So, what you have here is a CD of tracks from some of the new or upcoming bands of today, and it begs to be listened to, because for most people it will be a voyage of discovery. I imagine that many won’t have heard the majority of these artists, and for that reason alone, you should give this forty-two track album a few hours of your time, because it’s full of gems, even if some of them are a little rough around the edges. The most promising thing though is the “Vol 1” which implies that there will be more…. Put me down for those too, because there’s nothing more exciting than discovering new artists that you’d otherwise have missed.

9/10