THE CARDS feat. Saxon’s Paul Quinn – The Cards (2019)
Presenting their self-titled debut CD this 2019, THE CARDS are a brand new international power blues rock trio created by founding & current member of British metal godfathers Saxon, Paul Quinn (guitars) alongside American singer / keyboardist & bass player Harrison Young (former sideman to Udo Dirkschneider and Doro Pesch).
Rounding off the trio is experienced Dutch Koen Herfst (drums & background vocals), preferred drummer of Armin van Buuren as well as several other well known rock and metal outfits in the past like Epica, Dew-Scented and Anneke van Giersbergen.
After meeting backstage at a German metal festival, Paul and Harrison bonded over a shared set of musical influences which became apparent in their early songwriting process. With the addition of drummer Koen, all three find themselves branching out into new territory beyond the metal world with the creation of this album.
The band made their live-debut in May 2018, headlining the prestigious Arkangelsk Blues Festival in Russia and will announce live-dates for 2019 soon.
Listening to “The Cards” – the album – seems the band members doesn’t needed too much gigs to know each other – the trio sounds oiled and like if they have been playing together for decades.
This happens when you have 3 seasoned musicians able to play any musical genre with ease, even more when the focus is their formative style; classic rock of all times.
It’s fun to listening to Paul Quinn playing bluesy guitar licks and solos, not the typical stuff you hear from him in Saxon. Add to that Harrison Young’s classy vocals and Herfst’s steady shuffle drumming and you have a pretty killer power trio.
All over the record there’s shades of Gary Moore (opener ‘No Soul’), Bad Company (‘The Process’ or the riff driven ‘Ride the Freight Train’) and Hendrix on the groovy ‘Bandit on the Run’.
All is balanced with slower tunes such as ‘Sweet Lowdown Dirty Love’ (Thin-Lizzy-like), and while you may expect a furious rocker from a song titled ‘Rock & Roll Rocketship’, this is indeed an atmospheric midtempo with nice lyrics.
Then the very melodic ‘Long Way to Go’ adds acoustics into the mix and croon lead vocals, perhaps the more ‘American’ tune on the album, and a highlight.
Unexpected to hear a metal veteran like Paul Quinn playing this kinda stuff, “The Cards” is like a breath of fresh air in the bach of early releases 2019.
Very well recorded / produced with a ‘classy’ sonic aura and delivering a set of lovely classy songs, you can’t go wrong with The Cards’ debut CD. It’s pure Classic Rock, and good.
Highly Recommended
01 – No Soul
02 – Bandit on the Run
03 – Rock & Roll Rocketship
04 – The Process
05 – Pitfalls
06 – Ride the Freight Train
07 – Sweet Lowdown Dirty Love
08 – If I Had You
09 – Agent Orange
10 – Long Way to Go
11 – For You
Paul Quinn (Saxon) – Guitars
Harrison Young (ex-Doro, ex-U.D.O.) – Vocals, Bass, Keyboards
Koen Herfst (ex- Epica) – Drums, Percussion
BUY IT !
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07MCM7FFZ
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