A great start to the year.
With some outstanding releases towards the end of 2010, including the quite sensational debut album from Seven Year Riot, it was always going to be a hard ask to find an outstanding modern rock release in early January 2011. However the debut album from this Tennessee outfit completely bucks the trend, blows off the New Year cobwebs and eases the unpleasant January blues.
With a sound that joyously combines latter day Papa Roach ('Misplaced Hero') with debut era Saving Abel style rock ('Best Of Me') and a touch of Cinder Road ('Only'), Wake the Light has all their modern rock bases covered. Gregg Archilla's edgy production and Joe Marlett's mix does on occasions save the album from plummeting into boy band mawkishness, as on 'Home To Me', where vocalist T-Jay Tipps - who auditioned for Fuel - pleads "let's get back to where we were before", but in the main the album has enough guitar to safely qualify as a bonafide rock album.
With a plethora of made for radio songs-although it has to be said that the pace drops toward the end of the album - 'Leave It All Behind' pushes all the right buttons if your penchant is for this genre. A great start to the year.
Mike Newdeck
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