LATER SONS – Rise Up (2023) *HQ*
With their upcoming album “Rise Up“, LATER SONS embark on a journey through decades of melodic rock and AOR from the Eighties to the present day. Songs with a lot of hit potential and fine hooklines without sounding dusty or old-fashioned. Authentic sounds by authentic players and lovers of the genre who know their business.
Founding members are the former Lioncage musicians Thorsten Bertermann (v) and Torsten Landsberger (d) who ignited the flame in late 2019 after the split of Lioncage. After several line-up changes on guitars foremost, today’s line-up is ready to strike.
The debut showcases the full range of rock and AOR influences of everybody involved, a cool mixture of ’80s stadium rock flavored with AOR and a slice of classic hard rock. The album was produced and mixed by Landsberger, except for “Follow Your Dream” which was mixed by Pete Woj, and “Eye Of The Storm” which was mixed by Steve Hardy; mastering at Sterling Sound.
With a style recalling 80s German / Scandinavian melodic rock but with a very modern dynamic sound production, “Rise Up” is pure delight for fans of the genre.
Opener ‘We better Run’ starts with synths creating atmosphere for a midpaced song with a clear Journey inspiration, rich in harmonies.
But next, with ‘Never surrender’, the album and the band reach a new dimension: this is pure, high class AOR with an ’80s flavor but with modern guitars & rumbling bass, and yeah, a chorus to die for – ‘Never surrender’ is an iconic line for ’80s AOR, and here kills too! This song alone worth this CD.
With ‘Lady Rock’ the band takes a run for an effective swirling melodic hard rocker, then ‘Follow your dream’ isn’t a ballad, but a melodic rocker with a Scandi aura all over. Love the guitar work here.
After the semi-ballad ‘Last Freedom’ which reminds me of an old Two Fires song, title track ‘Rise Up’ takes us back to the late ’80s again for a dynamic rocker with busy instrumentation (layers of guitar never stop to hit you) and there’s even an homage to the 1987 LA scene with a little cowbell brief moment and a guitar swirl akin DLR’s Yankee Rose.
‘Family Affair’ sound more early ’90s influenced with a potent riff and great vocal harmonies, ‘Heaven’ is very different from the rest simply because it’s entirely guitar-acoustic driven (a nice break for the album), before ‘Hometown Girl’ kicks again with a catchy melodic rock hook.
The album ends with the straight-out rocker ‘Good times, bad times’, and ode to rock n’ roll and perhaps the most American sound track on the entire album.
You can tell all LATER SONS members are seasoned musicians and know their classic rock bible from A to Z. More specifically the Melodic Rock / AOR game, and they are very good at it. You like the genre? Press play now.
Highly Recommended
01 – We better Run
02 – Never surrender
03 – Lady Rock
04 – Follow your dream
05 – Last Freedom
06 – Rise Up
07 – Family Affair
08 – Heaven
09 – Hometown Girl
10 – Eye of the storm
11 – Good times, bad times
Pre order:
www.amazon.co.uk/Rise-Up-Later-Sons/dp/B0C6WL9J31
