FEDERAL CHARM – Passenger (2018)
Classic rockers FEDERAL CHARM drop their highly anticipated third studio album “Passenger” on Sept 14th, some kind of a rebirth for the Manchester band with new vocalist Tom Guyer taking pole position on this recording, a significant line-up change plus new drummer Josh Zahler.
Lead guitarist Paul Bowe and solid bassist LD Morawski continue to be part of the songwriting process and team up with second guitarist / keyboard player Kyle Ross to deliver another cool collection of British classic, bluesy groovy hard rock.
We really enjoyed FEDERAL CHARM previous album, and since then the band has oiled the machine with high profile opening slots for, amongst others, Michael Schenker, UFO, Black Star Riders, The Bad Flowers, which cemented the buzz.
The new members bring additional bluster, especially Guyer’s Robert Plant machinations and Zahler’s busy percussion. From Guyer’s opening feral cry through his booming range throughout a breathless album, it’s evident that he’s out to make a big impressions and “Passenger” gives him all the room he need to propel his phrasing and dominate the songs with real brio.
“Passenger” finds Federal Charm doubling their energy, fattening their sound and extending their jagged rhythms (not unlike Rival Sons), as a means of building some angry unresolved tension in their grooves. Indeed, the perfunctory ending to the lyrically bleak opener ‘Sing Sinner’ carries it into the post Zeppelin stop-start dynamics of first single ‘Choke’.
Tracks like ‘Sinner’ and ‘Emerald Haze’ are reminiscent of bands of days gone by with hints of Thin Lizzy and Free crossing the mind.
Energy is what this band is all about. It’s such an essential part of their restless style that you could imagine “Passenger” being a debut album rather than their fourth release.
This new album is the sound of a band moving from its new formative stages towards a bigger sound full of huge staccato rhythms, overarching vocals and potent mixture of riffs and buzz tones.
Everything comes together at just under the halfway point on ‘Nowhere Is Home’ as the band nails its new direction. The band builds on this with the impressive ‘Get Through’. Much like its broken relationship subject matter, the song is short, sharp and to the point. A guitar driven piece with jagged riffs and subtle dynamics with distant echoes of The Who.
Then there’s the equally good ‘Can’t Rule Me’, a solid meeting of voice and unsettling rhythms on a tight arrangement that includes a lovely descending double guitar and vocal line on a track that defines the new band’s style.
You can almost overlook the flagrant Led Zeppelin influences, particularly on the Page and Plant influenced ‘Speak Out’, or indeed the familiar generational protest song of ‘Concrete Creature’. The latter is voiced over an acoustic-into-electric riff and a Monster Truck style vocal on the outro, as they forge their own style.
Federal Charm have a Classic Rock vibe, a loose and colorful style that resonates across “Passenger” in the way the songs are structured and delivered.
It’s great to see the evolution of a band and the journey they have taken looking for their own unique voice, unlike many of the cookie cutter bands out there who write songs like paint by numbers. These guys have engrossed themselves in their sound and that resonates across this new album.
Highly Recommended
01 – Swing Sinner
02 – Choke
03 – Emerald Haze
04 – Death Rattle
05 – Nowhere Is Home
06 – Get Through
07 – Concrete Creature
08 – Can’t Rule Me
09 – Halo
10 – Speak Out
11 – Parting Words
Tom Guyer – vocals
Paul Bowe – guitars
LD Morawski – bass, backing vocals
Josh Zahler – drums
with:
Kyle Ross – guitars, keyboards
BUY IT !
www.amazon.co.uk/Passenger-Federal-Charm/dp/B07G2NZDWQ
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