ALBUM REVIEW: The New Roses – One More For the Road

For a lover of great Hard Rock like me, especially Hard Rock that has a timeless appeal and a certain 80’s flavour and a nice Southern accent and smokiness then to discover a ‘new’ band that fits that profile and absolutely gets it is a wonderful thing indeed . A great new Rock band indeed is like fine wine or fine food but lasts so much longer. On the minus side I am kicking myself that Wiesbaden’s The New Roses are ‘new’ to me and that this wonderful sonic concoction is their third album!

With a real Hard Rocking heart, a little sniff of the ‘South’, a touch of 80’s bands like Little Caesar and dabs here and there of the Blues it’s immediately clear that they do make ’em like they used to. The New Roses are and exceptional band to stumble on, and they kick up a storm on tracks like the powerful and gritty ‘My Own Worst Enemy’ and the groovy, heavy tour de force that is ‘Forever Never Comes’.

The best thing though about the whole package is the complete lack of any weak or even average material. They open with the wonderfully catchy ‘Quarter to Twelve’ and don’t put a foot wrong anywhere along the way to the closing notes of track 14 (and third bonus track) ‘Nitro Nights’.

Elsewhere you can really take your pick as this is an album you can just push play and leave to run it’s course; and we haven’t even mentioned the singles yet! Speaking of singles ‘Life Ain’t Easy (For A Boy With Long Hair)’ might well be something some of us have had to deal within our day and it’s a fair to say its the most Country Rock of the album’s offerings, like The Georgia Satellites mellowed by a listen to Kid Rock.

Flicking through though you’ll be more than happy with tracks like the anthemic ‘Every Wildheart’; rockers ‘Dancing On A Razor Blade’, and title track ‘One More For The Road’; and the heartfelt ballad ‘Fight You Leaving Me’ which strips it all back to the bare bones. And all of it’s done with a hard as nails rhythm section, some cool wailing guitar and a vocal that comes across like Dave Lee Roth meets Ron Young meets Dan Baird.

The three bonus tracks too are just as good as anything on the main album with the fiery ‘Do I Look Scared To You’ a real winner and second ballad ‘The Storm’ if anything an even more powerful take on the form than ‘Fight You…’

Best of all though might just be ‘Consider Me Gone’ which sits unassumingly mid-album and has a real rock and roll swagger. Ask me in a few minutes though and that may change. This is good, very good indeed.