ENDFIELD – Right To The Top (2017)
“Right To The Top” is the debut album from German 5-piece ENDFIELD, with origins in the late Nineties as a cover band evolving to original material.
Formed by vocalist Glyn Brookman and guitarist Sven ‘Doc’ Hanke, both out of the band Practical Malfunction, Endfield experimented several line-up changes over the years but now the band has gelled with solid crew resulting in the recording of their full length CD “Right To The Top”.
Largely, Endfield plays melodic hard rock delivered in an AOR wrapper, a sound rooted in the classic Eighties tradition yet not in your typical keyboard / synth fashion. The band add to their sound some kind of different percussion, acoustic guitars, etc.
The song arrangements are big on melody, vocal and guitar harmony, and a solid rock rhythm and groove. Vocalist Brookman has a strong vocal presence being clean, melodic, and sometimes with a deeper timber. The keyboards provide atmosphere, complementing the guitar drive.
Speaking about the songs, they range from the lighter poppy AOR groove to more heavier rock numbers. For the former, ‘Good Timing’, ‘Next Mistake’, ‘Not Alone’ and ‘So Long’ fill the bill. I found the latter perhaps the most interesting song of the entire album, with a MOR feeling both in vocals & guitar.
More to the hard rock side of things come with opener ‘Girl In Flames’, the riff heavy ‘Masterpiece Of Silence’, and quick-paced riff roaring ‘The Game’, which features some kind of rapping by a guy named Breezy.
Also, there’s a ballad with the song ‘Angel’, featuring nice, sweet acoustic guitar lines, a soaring solo, and Brookman’s passionate vocals.
A long time in the making for Endfield, “Right To The Top” is a promising start for the band. To be honest, however, even with fine songwriting and good musicianship, I was only attracted to a few songs. That doesn’t make the whole album weak, just not wholly compelling.
Interesting band trying something different in the melodic hard rock field. Give ’em a try.
01 – Girl in Flames
02 – Good Timing
03 – Next Mistake
04 – Not Alone
05 – Right to the Top
06 – Masterpiece of Silence
07 – Angel
08 – So Long
09 – The Game (feat. Breezy)
10 – Pokerface (feat. Charles Walker)
Glyn Brookman (vocals)
Sven “Doc” Hanke (guitars)
Stefan Pfaffinger (bass)
Toni Jablonski (keyboards)
Carsten Enghardt (drums)
BUY IT !
www.emp-online.com/art_351021/
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