DAMN PIGEON – Screaming Vibrations (2018)
Canadian hard rockers DAMN PIGEON are releasing today their fourth studio album titled “Screaming Vibrations“. This five piece rocks in an indubitable ’80s / 90s fashion, updated with a modern sound production.
Damn Pigeon are one of those bands you can’t believe you’ve just discovered. Hailing from a little town just outside London, Ontario, in Canada, they formed in or about 2009 and released their first studio album next year.
Unfortunately, founding member and singer Steve Phillips died shortly after recording the album, so there was no touring or support to follow. After several months off, and auditioning new singers, Damn Pigeon welcomed former Syre singer Doug Weir into the mix.
Now, some of you oldies like me might remember the ’80s Canadian hard rock band Syre.
They were about a half step down from the likes of Helix, Lee Aaron and Anvil in terms of overall popularity and name recognition, but did get signed to a major label and released a stupendous album titled It Ain’t Pretty Being Easy in 1990.
Damn Pigeon‘s sound and style can be defined as modern Syre.
Songs from Damn Pigeon‘s previous records garnered broadcast and iNet radio airplay in some 28 countries around the world, and the band is quite popular in the North America Rock circuit.
All of which brings us to new album “Screaming Vibrations”. I will use many comparisons to other bands in this review – it brings some light for what the album is all about, but that’s not to say the music is derivative by any means, but simply a way for me to describe what I’m hearing stylistically.
For example, the lead offand title track ‘Screaming Vibrations’ has some classic Scorpions on it, however Doug Weir owns a tenor vocal color which turn things different. Very strong classic hard rock song.
‘Time Forgets Your Name’ starts slow with acoustics, yet soon gets electrics for a bluesy, atmospheric rocker with multi-layers of guitars.
If we speak about more influences, ‘Back Page News’ brings to mind Thunder, while ‘Move’ (a favorite) is a catchy melodic rocker that would make April Wine proud.
Another winner for me is ‘There Instead of Here’, driven by a great twin guitar attack riff and where Weir’s vocals shine.
Then ‘One Life’ sounds pretty American, with a little Twisted Sister melodic side – their second half of the ’80s sound.
As said above, Damn Pigeon are one of those bands you can’t believe you’ve just discovered. They rock with a true ’80s / 90s hard rock vibe, uncompromising and authentic.
Solid songs, strong musicianship and a vocalist that deserve to be heard. Additionally, production is crisp and the whole thing very well mixed.
Damn Pigeon manages to morph a number of English and American styles of traditional (melodic) hard rock into their own style and it really works.
Strongly Recommended
01 – Screaming Vibrations
02 – Time Forgets Your Name
03 – Back Page News
04 – Move
05 – Unsane
06 – There Instead of Here
07 – Unraveled
08 – Never Go Back
09 – Hell Yeah
10 – One Life
11 – Stripper Crotch [new version] (bonus track)
Doug Weir – lead vocals, guitars
Joe Edmiston – guitars, keyboards, backing vocals
Steve Proctor – guitars, backing vocals
Steve Proud – bass guitars, backing vocals
Jason Latimer – drums, backing vocals
BUY IT !
www.amazon.de/Screaming-Vibrations-Damn-Pigeon/dp/B07FMKGBRX
.
