THE GLORIOUS SONS – The Union (2014)
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“The Union” is the first album from Canadian rockers THE GLORIOUS SONS, after gaining traction with a last year’s EP and intensively playing live the band got right back to writing for their debut CD.
Produced by John-Angus MacDonald (The Trews), the result is a really polished record that lets the songs speak for themselves, taking influences from the American Classic Rock scene and with some Hard Rock waves as well.
The Kingston, Ontario, quintet open the CD with “Man Made Man” driven by guitar chords reminiscent of the early Eighties, and it is tempting to write them off right away as unoriginal. But that would be a great mistake (in hindsight, the guiro backing should have been a giveaway that this wasn’t to be your average run of the mill rock record).
The 11 tracks that make up the album show a lot of different sensibilities, from the more poppish “Lightning” to the hard rock of “Heavy” to the southern rock tinted “The Union”. The remainder of the album is about half uplifting radio-rock and half hard rock staples, with two ballads thrown in.
We have a softer, yet anthemic rocker in “Hard Times”, but perhaps the highlight of the album is the title track, which beautifully fuses the aforementioned radio-rock&pop and hard rock elements found on “The Union”.
Picking a highlight on this album is cruel though. I’ve had “The Union” on repeat since I got it, and if I didn’t, I can’t think of a song I wouldn’t regularly return to.
“The Union” is catchy enough to be singable all the way through, with instantly likeable tunes throughout.
It fuses a varied spectre of what in this new century it’s called Classic Rock, via a strong songwriting weaving in and out a long list of influences seamlessly without ever really sounding derivative.
The Glorious Sons are a solid bunch of musicians and have made a very entertaining record, impeccably performed and produced. They are the opening act for Airbourne in this fall tour, so this proves they shall have something good in their music.
Recommended.
01 – Man Made Man
02 – Heavy
03 – Hard Times
04 – Lightning
05 – White Noise
06 – The Contender
07 – Mama
08 – The Union
09 – Gordie
10 – Lover Under Fire
11 – Amigo
Brett Emmons (vocals)
Jay Emmons (guitar)
Andrew Young (guitar)
Chris Huot (bass)
Adam Paquette (drums)
BUY IT !
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