After the wonderful ‘Crash Course’ (2007) and ‘Raising the Stakes’ (2009) New Generation Superstars were one of the most vibrant and most likely to succeed Rock bands in the UK. Then for a while I sort of lost track as the band underwent significant line-up changes before re-emerging in 2013 with ‘Rock N Roll or Die’, an album financed by fans on the crowdsourcing platform Pledge music. 4th album ‘King of the World’ was released to ‘pledgers’ on October 7th 2016 but general release follows on 6th January 2017 via Underdog Records.
New Generations Superstars (NGS) sound has certainly changed fro the Sleazy, Punky rock of those first two albums to a more refined mixture of the Rock N Roll melting pop, here even dabbling with a little pop.
Preceded by the title track in October 2016, ‘King of the World’ is an interesting affair mixing as it does those traditional NGS sounds with a clear intent to make the songs both more immediate, and in some cases rather understated but equally as effective. Indeed, you could even look on this album as a little on the ‘experimental’ side, but we’ll come to that…
One thing NGS never lacked was the ability to write a great ‘hook’ and ‘King of the World’ at times is like stumbling on a ‘hook-makers’ convention! ‘Friend or Foe’ that opens proceedings starts out with some radio static and a very ‘Cult circa Electric’ guitar riff (I’ll let you guess the tune). It’s a great rock song, nice and melodic but with a real edge and suitably cool chorus chant! It’s probably still my favourite here, but there’s plenty of contenders.
Title track ‘King of the Word’ dials up the old school Pop-Punk, it’s a cool song if that’s the way you roll and has a gloriously casual aspect. ‘Taste of Me’ is back to that dirty Rock vibe, riding another great riff it’s a kindred spirit to the opener, and spits and sizzles along nicely, just as much Punk attitude but with the Pop of the previous song replaced with Rock. Another hit in my book. ‘Out of My Head’ is another great chugging rocker, making a great start to the album.
It’s the next song ‘Hold On’ that may divide opinion. Essentially it’s a gentle piano led tune with backing vocals by Sophia Marshall, there’s an almost early eighties alt-folk aspect to it and a lilting understated chorus. If I’m honest I really don’t like it, but I can appreciate that others might, to me it just lacks that crescendo or urgency in the chorus, or more dynamics in the breakdowns – either or both could have elevated it. It’s also bloody long for a song with such an understated repetitive refrain clocking in at over 7 and a half minutes. Moving on…
‘Keys to the City’ gets back to that gritty punk sound with a vibe like Australia’s ‘Living End’; while ‘Crash Course’ lights up like ‘Hot Boys in Love’ (the Cherry Bombz version rather than the original by Loverboy) its a nice touch taking the title of he first album and turning it into a song and a pretty damned good on at that.
The album enters its final phase with another departure: ‘Damn You (To Hell and Back)’ kicks off with a riff that sounds like AC/DC meets Hanoi Rocks and ends up sounding like The Georgia Satellites. It works but the Southern stylings are a bit of a surprise. ‘Halo’ and ‘Hello’ follow – the first a high octane summery Punk jaunt with New York Dolls style backing vocals, the second a lilting acoustic blues that comes with echoes of John Mellancamp. It’s yet another aspect to the band.
With two new musicians on board in Jonny Suicide and Mord Fustang there’s a sense here of expansion, but its a gentle testing rather than an abrupt turn, and for the most part it works. The final two tracks come all too soon: ‘Last of a Dying Breed’ is a nice Sleazy rocker rather than a Lynyrd Skynyrd cover; and final track ‘Not Like You’ is pretty damned fine, a long build over chugging guitars leads to a song with a punky heart and full of defiance.
Great album and a welcome return after 4 years.
NGS:
AJ Superstar – Guitar and Vocals
Davey Messiah – Lead Guitar and Backing Vocals
Jonny Suicide – Bass and Backing Vocals (Co-lead on ” To Hell & Back”)
Mord Fustang– Drums (Piano “Hold On”)
Featured Artists:
Sophia Marshall – Vocals “Hold On”
Ross Hillard – String Sections “Hold On” and “Hello”
Neil Hunter – Piano “To Hell and Back”
Track Listing:
1 – Friend Or Foe
2 – King Of The World
3 – Taste Of Me
4 – Out Of My Head
5 – Hold On
6 – Keys To The City
7 – Crash Course
8 – Damn You (To Hell & Back)
9 – Halo
10 – Last Of A Dying Breed
11 – Hello
12 – Not Like You
Check out NGS:
www.newgenerationsuperstars.com | www.musicglue.com/new-generation-superstars | www.reverbnation.com/newgenrocks | www.youtube.com/newgenrocks
