“Legacy is a high octane concoction of 80’s influenced hard rock, AOR, modern metal and New Wave Of British Heavy Metal…full of fist pumping whoaaaaaaa, whoooooaaaa’s”
Well aren’t these boys from Essex, UK who call themselves The Morning After and deliver a totally 80’s influenced amalgam of hard rock, AOR, modern metal and New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, an interesting beast? I didn’t catch the guys first time around in 2009 with their debut album You Can’t Hurt Steel so new album Legacy is my first introduction. If you are familiar with Canadian band Blessed By A Broken Heart or Electrik Dynamite here in Australia, they’re a really neat comparison to where The Morning After sit in the scheme of things….or let’s say a melodic, slowed down version of Dragonforce haha!
First things first, I just feel compelled to mention this, but surely vocalist Sam Ryder is from Australia?, there’s at times some vocal deliveries that sound more Australian than I, look no further than on Powerdrive with vocal moments that could have come straight from a Jebediah, Motor Ace or Something For Kate song…but anyways, I digress. Ok well erase what I just said about those 3 Australian bands as The Morning After have absolutely sweet F.A musically in common with those three bands. As alluded to above, this is a high octane concoction of 80’s influenced hard rock, AOR, modern metal and New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. There’s keyboards galore, over the top guitar solos, plenty of air drum moments and if you want whoa’s whoa’s and yeah, yeah yeah’s, then they’ve got them covered too….in spades!
The soaring instrumental opening track launches Into The Fire and I don’t know about you, but I love a song with the chorus as the intro and a meaty lead guitar break. For the old school purists out there, you were probably loving this track until the 1.15minute mark, when the metalcore vocals come in, yeah thought so? It’s OK they don’t last for long, suck it up princess and enjoy something a little different, at 2.30mins there’s a wayooo wayyyyyy vocal chant leading into a nice harmony guitar solo, it’s all good. Limit delivers more of the same, which is really The Morning After way. If the first few seconds or the chorus of first single America doesn’t put a massive smile on your face, then you’ve got to be one mighty musical WOWSER, punch your fists in the air and get ready to shout out plenty of whoa whoa whoa’s. One of my favourite songs for 2012…period!
There’s a more old school metal side to The Morning After which comes through in songs like The Witch Is On My Back and These Hills Have Eyes which also really bring out the band’s penchant for fictional, horror and futuristic lyrics, adding another dimension to the overall package. As for the 10 minute epic rock opera Streams Of Stars and the near 7 minute semi acoustic Seasons, I didn’t see them coming, I still haven’t got my head around these tracks. Over The Wire is a killer 80’s action movie soundtrack song waiting to happen with some soaring guitar pyrotechnics to match the “soaring” lyrics….ok that’s solved that, maybe a 2013 Iron Eagle remake is where this song should belong?
“Sing this chorus back to me, because you make it sound so good, open up your mind to the sound you never thought you would…” that’s the lyrics the band leave us with on closing track I Walk With Giants. And really, that’s no better instruction than how to best digest this album. The Morning After twist the genres you know and love and deliver their own interpretation. So open your mind and open your ears…what you get from this album is entirely up to you, whoooa whooooa!
Essential Information
For fans of: A modern take on the old school ala Blessed By A Broken Heart, Electrik Dynamite
Release date: 12 December 2011
Record label: Rising Records
Website: www.facebook.com/tmaofficialuk
Track listing:
Legacy
Into The Fire
Limit
America
The Witch Is On My Back
Over The Wire
Streams Of Stars
These Hills Have Eyes
Powerdrive
Rest In Pieces
Nightmare Planet
Seasons
I Walk With Giants
