REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Day: March 23, 2022

ASTRONOID – Air

You have got to agree – this is a great name for a band. This is their first album released in 2016. It’s quite hard to describe the band’s sound but think of something like a mix of metal, thrash, Prog and shoegaze and you may start to get an image of their sound. They remind me of a bit of Devin Townsend in places though.

It’s an album you have to listen to deeply – you can’t just dive in and play a track and move on – it demands your attention as there is a lot going on to digest. Tracks like Up And Atom really go for the throat – it’s a full on tech metal guitar fest. Drummer, Matt St Jean, must be on some sort of extra curricular substance as his energy and drumming is full on – he can’t be human as the track Resin is nuts. Ironically, the track Violence (with that title you would expect a full on assault) is an ambient zone out piece. Air is my favourite as the technicality and guitars are incredible.

I’m quite happy to have this as my lone excursion into their world as I’m not sure my brain could cope with something this intense constantly.

8/10 from The Grooveman.

THE POLICE – Regatta De Blanc

After the success of their first album (especially the single, Roxanne), the band had found their sound and took it and ran with it on this album. Other than It’s Alright For You (which still has that punk pop flavour), all of the tracks are reggae influenced. They literally struck gold with this record as the sound was somewhat fresh and new. Stewart Copeland is the star of this album as his beats and grooves really define the band’s sound, and Sting had found his niche – his voice was made for this sound.

This is my favourite Police album by a mile – every song is fantastic and the production is stellar. Message In A Bottle, Walking On The Moon, Bring On The Night, and The Beds Too Big Without You are all killer tracks and any band would give up a body part for any one of those tracks. Even the non-single tracks like the instrumental and title track (other than the De Yeh Yo’s), No More This Time, and Does Everyone Stare are all incredible.

It’s a bit of a no brainer giving this the max as (…you guessed it) every home should have one.

10/10 from The Grooveman.