Crazy Lixx on their last album more or less called out America for it’s lack of great newer hard rock bands, As a proud citizen of America I can at least concede that they are not totally wrong, This nation isn’t exploding with great rock bands like it was back in the decades between the 60’s and the 90’s. I would however say that we do still have some great newer artists that in a different era or a different country would’ve been HUGE! Station is a prime example of this and is in my view the best newer American band I’ve come across in recent years. They are an extremely talented band with killer songs that are bursting with great melodies and soaring vocals.
In another era these guys would’ve been selling millions of copies of their albums and packing arenas, Their hook filled songs would’ve been all over MTV and playing on radio stations nationwide, That’s how good this band and their songs are. Over the course of five albums and one EP this New York City based band has consistently refined their arena rock sound into pure infectious ear candy, Their latest album And Time Goes On is further proof of how this band is one of the best around.
“Over and Over” opens the album with shimmering keys and a driving bass and drums backbeat before kicking into a great mid tempo rocker that wouldn’t be out of place on one of the first couple of Winger albums. If you’re familiar with this band already then “If You Want Me Too” is going to sound a bit similar to their song “I Won’t Break Your Heart” from their second album More Than The Moon, I mean that as a compliment as that is one of my favorite songs by this band. They really excel in this musical territory that fits somewhere between a mid tempo rocker and a power ballad, kind of like a mixture of Warrant and Winger. Every album they do has a few songs that really get stuck in your head and this one will without a doubt be one of those for most listeners.
“A Little Bit Of Love” comes in with a bouncy fun rhythm with drum and bass groove that will get you moving, the interplay between all the musicians in the band on this song is great and shows how dialed in these guys are with each other. “Close My Eyes” is far and away the best song on this album in my opinion, It goes in a harder direction similar to what they did on “Believe” from their last album “Perspective” and it just roars out of the speakers with driving riffs, pounding bass and Drums. The verses slow things down slightly, keyboards accenting the rhythm before picking up the tempo at the bridge and Patrick Kearney’s powerful voice sings “I can’t sleep when I’m alone, when you’re not at home, I just can’t close my eyes” and an excellent guitar solo is on this song and honestly not a single note is out of place here, this is an absolutely FLAWLESS track that is one of the very best songs they’ve ever recorded.
“Touch” slows things back down a bit and grooves with more great work from their rhythm section, this song has a strong Def Leppard vibe while not totally sounding derivative of that band.
“Locked Away” picks things up a bit and has a nice upbeat melody, I get somewhat of an 80s era Heart influence out of this song, the playing here is just incredible. “No Reason” goes for a semi acoustic sound on the verse before hitting a powerful chorus, Patrick’s vocals do the heavier lifting on this song in my opinion and the solo on this song is excellent, there’s also a great breakdown here as well. “Something In Between” has an almost funk inspired riff in the verses before hitting a powerful bridge, Chris Lane is an absolutely incredible guitarist with skill and tone that would’ve had him on the cover of music magazines back in the day alongside some of the 80s well loved players. This song is mesmerizing. “Better Off Alone” is another great up tempo rocker that fits somewhere between Winger, Def Leppard, and Warrant.
Deeper in “Around The Sound” gives me strong Van Halen vibes that are a mixture of the Roth and Hagar eras, the guitar solo in this song however brings to mind early Bryan Adams. The album closes with its only ballad “And Time Goes On” The keys are vintage 80s pop and Patrick’s vocals soar over them in the way you would want in a song like this.
In the wide world of incredible modern rock bands Station does power ballads better than most of them and this song further illustrates that fact, Had this song been around in the 80s or early 90s it would’ve been a massive hit. And if that isn’t the tragedy of it all I don’t know what is, That a band like this isn’t way more popular when their talent and songwriting far surpasses what is mainstream rock right now. If Frontiers Records doesn’t try to snatch these guys up I’ll be surprised, they are an incredible band with one of the best records this year and maybe their best album to date.
9/10