A great debut and one that demands to be heard.

Debut albums can be tricky things to say the least. Your initial offering has to be big, bold and without a doubt ballsy! With 'Time To Heal', American quartet The Infection have delivered on all fronts and it will be interesting to see how their future grows, especially if they're given time and the right support.

Getting people's attention is easy, keeping that attention is where some hard graft is required. Straight from the opening track 'Consequences', Rick Dunn's vocals captivate and exude a raw grit that is mixed with a complete acceptance in the material. This leads to his, the band's and ultimately your willingness to submerge into its contents and get swept along on the ride.

Of course, what is a vocalist without music? Bandmates Tommy Guarnieri (guitars), Santiago Helman (bass) and Vinnie LaRocca (drums) supply a stream of absolutely belting melodies. Guarnieri's guitar playing is first-rate, and it's a sheer joy to listen to him wring out the licks and riffs that move the tunes forward. Helman controls the bass with an air of authority and LaRocca underpins it all with perfect beats, especially on 'The Brave'.

The whole album oozes with a fantastic production (thanks to engineer Anthony Rocky Gallo) that relentlessly drives it through its entirety, and this makes every song one you'll want to listen to repeatedly and that is half the battle won as it keeps The Infection long in your mind after the last note has faded.

The food and drink of any record are its contents and the tracks don't disappoint. Ten songs are offered, although the final one is a radio edit of the fourth track 'Waiting'; it's probably the most commercial of all the tunes and slightly shifts the heavier Rock sound of the album's opening trio to a more melodic focus that fuses perfectly with Dunn's voice. The gang from New York City tackle a range of social issues like the threat of homelessness and its toll on a person in 'Vagrant'. 'Consequences' is a song that highlights the outcome of planned and unplanned actions, and it gets the release off to a commanding start, while 'Hate To Lose' powers through that never-ending human behaviour that dictates win at all costs.

This is a great debut and one that demands to be heard. I'm happy to claim that I have "The Infection" and I hope we will soon have a full pandemic on our hands!

Pete Arnett