THE TOI – Water Into Wine (2015)
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Stating influences from all the massive ’80s rock&pop bands, Glaswegian three piece rock band THE TOI are presenting their debut “Water Into Wine“. Also mentioning classic hard rock as musical formation, The Toi may not want to admit it, but they’ve recorded a cracking Melodic Rock album on “Water Into Wine” – that takes you back to the late 80s in great style.
Singer Pol Healy, who also plays guitar, has a pleasing, varied attack bringing everything from Kevin Cronin (REO Speedwagon), Michael Eden (ex-Eden’s Curse) and Stephen Pearcy (Ratt) to the table. It’s a strut and pout attack from the frontman, and yet there’s way more substance than that suggests going on here.
His guitar riffs screech and wail like an ’80s hair metal act whilst they grind into hard rock territory, given the chance. Andy Carr delivers meaty bass lines coupled with Stevie “Dog” McLay on drums to provide a tight rhythm section that has your foot tapping before you realise it.
For The Toi know their way about a melody, certainly ain’t shy at throwing out hooks and if there’s a chorus to sing along to, then these guys are all over it.
“Get On It” which remind me a lot of fellow Scots rockers Estrella, the catchy “Come Alive” with its arena rock sound ala Bon Jovi, or “Staring At The Sun” are the sort of songs where you subconsciously find yourself mouthing the words right from the first run through and while the ethos behind them may be a few decades old – the results lying somewhere between Girl (the band) and White Lion – the album itself sounds refreshingly current.
I love “Till The Morning Comes”, where the band mix hard rock with a strong pop hook filled chorus, and they have fine ballads with “Down By The River” and the very ’80s Bon Jovi “Cold in the Night”, one of the best cuts on the CD.
The Toi may be awfully named (it comes from a Glasgow expression for a gang) and the album art ain’t up to much either, but “Water Into Wine” is a fantastic Melodic Rock recording.
Full of big choruses, catchy hooks and great rhythms, it’s a CD which sounds as good one the tenth listen as it does on the first.
There has to be something great about an album that sounds like the perfect backdrop to cruising California’s highways in a convertible with the summer sun beating down. Especially when the band in question are from Glasgow…
The album had a low key release back at the end of 2013 and now it gets a full re-release, and rightly so.
The clarity of sound across the whole “Water Into Wine” is a pleasant surprise too. However with Nick Brine, (who has produced Oasis) behind the desk, maybe that’s not such a surprise. Add in Dan Hawkins (The Darkness) helping them out with the arrangements and it would be easy to suggest that these lads have had help augmenting what they’re about, yet while that can’t have exactly hindered The Toi, ultimately it’s their songs and performances which stand tall and proud on this debut effort.
The Toi are well placed to ride on the back of the current upsurge in young bands with a Melodic Rock sound like H.E.A.T, Estrella, Santa Cruz et al. This is a very assured debut album with the band sure to get more attention over the coming months and years.
WIDELY RECOMMENDED.
You’ve seen it first here, at 0dayrox
01 – Get On It
02 – Come Alive
03 – I’m Still Crying
04 – Til The Morning Comes
05 – The One
06 – Staring At The Sun
07 – I Think About You
08 – Water Into Wine
09 – Cold In The Night
10 – Down By The River
Paul Healy – lead vocals, guitars
Andy Carr – bass, vocals
Stevie Mclay – drums, vocals
BUY IT !
www.amazon.co.uk/Water-into-Wine-Toi/dp/B00T7ONENA
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