It still blows my mind that Earache Records have started signing acts as commercial as Sam Millar. I mean, back in the day they were the go to for extreme metal music and nothing else. This album is about as far removed from extreme metal as it gets. Feel good pop rock is the order of the day with Sam Millar. He’s an uber talented guy, he wrote and played all instruments on the album.
The overall vibe that comes to mind when listening to the album is 80’s American radio bands like Toto, Journey, and a million others but there is something else that latches itself on to the grooves and sounds of that period. Sam has the knack of writing pure pop hooks and melodies wrapped in that AOR rock feel. When Summer Ends is the most perfect AOR song I have heard in eons. The chorus and hook are perfect with that feel good pop melody that just drives itself into your brain.
The track that got me hooked was The Killing Floor. It’s quite a dark themed title but the music is totally the opposite; a superb example of how to write an eighties FM radio smash. Chardonnay takes me back to the late eighties it’s just pure pop rock perfection.
This is one hell of a fun record and I’m amazed that Escape or Frontiers never snapped him up. Great record! Well done Sam Millar.
9/10 from The Grooveman.
