DIRTY GLORY – Mind The Gap (2015)
Founded five years ago in Sao Paulo, Brazil, DIRTY GLORY are presenting to the Melodic Hard Rock world their full length debut “Mind The Gap“. Including 12 high-octane rockers plenty of hooks, these guys will impress you at first listen.
Dirty Glory played several gigs, appeared in TV shows and released a couple of singles, then last year the group decided the time for a debut album arrived. The quintet concentrated to polish their songs, select the best among two dozen and entered into the studio. During recordings, the band switched bass players; out went Vinni Novack and in came Vikki Sparkz, an experienced musician in hard rock (ex- Bite).
“Mind The Gap” was co-produced by vocalist Jimmi DG, thanks to the knowledge gained from former projects and studio work. Jimmi owns a clean register yet strong and apt for Dirty Glory’s style.
Speaking about style, in “Mind The Gap” think late ’80s Californian hard rock with nice choruses.
Opener ‘Sticks and Stones’ is Dirty Glory’s presentation, and what a starter. Perhaps the more modern song on the album, it’s driven by heavy guitars and an overall angry attitude akin the first Sebastian Bach’s Skid Row, the guys surprise with a polished, bright production sound.
(Check the video below, but keep in mind the rest of the material is much more ’80s sounding)
Next, ‘Failing the Test’ is more glammy with some White Lion-like riffs and very well arranged harmony vocals, ’20 Years of Moving On’ adds a touch of sleazy bounce, while ‘Beyond Time’ is a sweet melodic rocker in a mid-tempo vein.
After these four first tracks you can tell Dirty Glory is a really, really good band composing and playing, but there’s more to enjoy.
‘Black Lightning’ mix some dirty hard rock (but with a pristine sound) and hair metal – complete with cowbell – then ‘Fire’ brings to mind Trixter catchiness. Again, a highly melodic chorus.
“Damn the Human Race” has a little bluesy feel ala Cinderella but rocks strongly, more fun is showed on ‘What’s Her Name Again?’, while ‘Mr. Jack’ is another fine tongue-in-cheek hard rocker.
This kind of music needs power ballads, and Dirty Glory delivers a couple in both stylings of the genre: ‘Every Time I Think About You’ is acoustically driven (think Mariah), then ‘The Sentence’ is mostly backed by pianos and orchestrated synths.
Brazilians Dirty Glory really surprised me with their debut “Mind The Gap”.
Not only all members are fine performers; all songs are strongly written & structured, there’s very good vocal arrangements, and production is really, really good. An ’80s US Hard Rock / Hair Metal influenced album should sound crisp & bright (not easy to achieve for an indie band) but Dirty Glory succeeded at it.
If you are fan of the genre better check Dirty Glory pronto.
Well done guys!
01 – Sticks and Stones
02 – Failing the Test
03 – 20 Years of Moving On
04 – Beyond Time
05 – Black Lightning
06 – Fire
07 – Damn the Human Race
08 – Every Time I Think About You
09 – What’s Her Name Again?
10 – Mr. Jack
11 – Modern Gods
12 – The Sentence
Jimmi DG – vocals
Dee Machado – guitar
Reichhardt – guitar
Vikki Sparkz – bass
Sas – drums
PRE-ORDER:
www.amazon.com/Mind-Gap-Dirty-Glory/dp/B015TRK6KC
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