ROXVILLE – Fallen From Grace (2021)
Formed ten years ago and after some line-up changes, British melodic hard rockers ROXVILLE solidified in 2017 and starting to materialize the dream of their first album. Titled “Fallen From Grace“, this is a cracking 13-track CD plenty of ’80s US influences from the genre with an updated sound akin the Scandinavian new wave.
There’s killer riffs, massive choruses and a maturity rarely seen into a debut CD. Jamie Sloane’s lead vocals soar all over, Chaz Jones’ George Lynch-like solos kick some serious ass, they have a huge rhythm section recalling White Lion / Black N’ Blue best era, cool keyboard slashes, and a fantastic production in the best Michael Wagener fashion circa 1987.
And the best part of it: all songs are good, very good. You need to check these guys!
All started in 2011 from the ashes of a previous incarnation of the band by core songwriters and guitarists Rocco Valentino and Chaz Jones, Roxville gradually took shape over the next few years as various ex members of London’s live rock circuit were brought in to complete the line-up in 2017. These were Jamie Sloane on vocals, Geos Letona on bass and Jerry Sadowski on drums.
By this point the idea to rewrite and heavily remodel their existing songs was underway with the intention being to capture and present a sound they had been aiming at for years and that would adequately express the broad range of influences that had originally inspired the band to get together in the first place.
Work on a debut album also started around this time which would continue sporadically over the next few years as the songs underwent further revisions and changes eventually being scheduled for release in April 2021.
And we have here “Fallen From Grace”, an album crafted with attention to detail without losing its attack n’ punch. ‘Crash n’ Burn’ sounds like a lost 1987 MTV hit, take some Dokken feeling for ‘Come Alive’, there’s a joyful catchiness to ‘Let You Go’, while some Scandi influences (Crazy Lixx, early Reckless Love) appear on ‘Gone’.
Lots of groove – and melody – dominates ‘Desert Storm’, a wild set of multi-layered swirling guitars are the core of ‘Turn It On’ (Danger Danger meets Damn Yankees), loads of harmony vocals for ‘Beyond Repair’, while ‘Bad Blood’ kick ass in the best Hurricane (American era) way.
The closest to a ballad here is midtempo ‘Solitaire’ where Roxville add a bit of AOR, same with the keyboard filled ‘Electric’, however guitars never lose its bite.
Coming out of nowhere, Roxville is one of the surprises of the year for us. “Fallen From Grace” rocks greatly, plenty of melody, catchiness, and a musicianship second to none. The two guitar players kill, adding tons, layers of tasteful licks everywhere.
Special mention to the production sound (handled by themselves); pristine, clear, crisp, biting.
Not only Scandinavia is able to produce quality melodic hard rock bands: Roxville are the real deal.
Yeah, and they have the ‘Rox’ in their name 😉
HIGHLY Recommended
01 – Crash n’ burn
02 – Come Alive
03 – Let You Go
04 – Gone
05 – Whipped
06 – Desert Storm
07 – Turn It On
08 – Beyond Repair
09 – Solitaire
10 – Bad Blood
11 – Blues Fever
12 – Electric
13 – Had It Coming
Jamie Sloane – Vocals
Chaz Jones – Guitars
Rocco Valentino – Guitars, Backing Vocals
Geos Letona – Bass
Jerry Sadowski – Drums
Gab Soulavy, Rachael Binnie – Keyboards
Ben Christo, Duncan Greenway, Jaakko Turunen – Backing Vocals
BUY IT
www.roxvilleband.com/buy/p/fallen-from-grace