Label: Frontiers Music Srl.
Release date: 12. 2. 2021
Production: Romesh Gogandoda
Album length: 44.16 min
Genre: Hard Rock
Rating: 9.0/10
Inglorious are a British hard rock outfit from the newer school. Formed in 2014, they came out swinging with a hefty load of dynamite and fire, and they grabbed everyone’s attention in no time. Everybody had to admit it when the up-and-coming band fired off three albums between 2016 and 2019 at lightning speed. Even a heavyweight like Brian May didn’t skimp on the praise. But that was the past. Not even swapping out both guitarists could stop them.
Despite the seriously high-quality records and the flawless vocal delivery of singer Nathan James (no wonder Trans Siberian Orchestra came calling too), all three albums released so far left the feeling that the artistic peak hadn’t been reached yet. Quality is without a doubt Inglorious’ middle name, and that’s in a corner of music where you just can’t dodge the word “cliché”. If you can get listeners to stop thinking about clichés while they’re listening to one, you’ve done a massive job. And Inglorious showed they could do exactly that with their third album “Ride to Nowhere” (2019), which proved that the reshuffled lineup had made the upgrade in songwriting and execution everyone was hoping for. We’re talking 2021 here, not 1980. What was a hot trend 40 years ago can now be, at best, a very decent “reheating of old soup”. And that does a huge injustice to the excellent new bands working in the roots of hard rock. You get past that with plenty of heart, dedication and stubborn refusal to bend. After the third album, the lineup got a serious shake-up. Then in March 2020 came the “pandemic”, and the “lockdown”, and the social distancing rules and so on. Well, none of that stopped the crew, and this February Inglorious put out their fourth album.
The shake-up did a lot of good. “We Will Ride” is in fact the most mature achievement of the renewed lineup, showing even more tightness and chemistry on this new record. Inglorious sound even stronger on the new album, and the bonds between them click with even more chemistry. That’s why the new album also shows a new step forward in maturity. The eleven tracks boast an exceptional range of ideas. The record is packed with the signature character of compact, punchy lead phrases. The compositions are structured in detail, with all the essential elements that give hard rock, on one hand, an atmospherically predatory, theatrical pomp, and on the other a high yield of musicality. From the excellent blend of backing vocal harmonies and the phenomenal interplay of both guitarists’ parts, led by flawless soloing (the peak of which is captured in the mystical He Will Provide), to Nathan James’ phenomenal vocal performance, which is once again a chapter of its own on this record. The band has also grown past any potential moves that would smell of beginner’s naivety. Instead, the songs, built mostly on minor keys, stay atmospherically dark as the pomp unfolds, yet Inglorious also know how to conjure mystique in them. All that while the record is seriously bristling and jagged, meaning it certainly doesn’t skimp on unleashing decibels.
What’s most appealing about Inglorious is that the band takes its internalized instinct for following the legacy of the British hard rock tradition of the seventies and eighties, where associations run from Bad Company and Led Zeppelin all the way to Thunder, and expresses it through the production seasoning of modern-day aesthetics. With a vocalist like Nathan James, that kind of musical aura really isn’t hard to pull off. The cherry on top of this record’s polish and the band’s remarkably mature artistic growth is the phenomenal production, handled in Cardiff, Wales, by Romesh Gogandoda (Bring Me The Horizon, Bullet For My Valentine, Motörhead).
“We Will Ride” is a venomously polished piece of work. It doesn’t uncover a musical revolution. That wasn’t even the goal. With it, Inglorious confirmed all their toughness and stubbornness and, above all, the fact that in their new form they’ve become a very strong crew. Artistically and in execution. Saddled up the way they should be, they can now carelessly and with plenty of confidence ride off toward new triumphs.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. She Won’t Let You Go
2. Messiah
3. Medusa
4. Eye Of The Storm
5. Cruel Intentions
6. My Misery
7. Do You Like It
8. He Will Provide
9. We Will Meet Again
10. God Of War
11. We Will Ride
Lineup:
Nathan James – vocals
Danny De La Cruz – guitar
Dan Stevens – guitar
Vinnie Colla – bass guitar
Phil Beaver – drums, percussion
