Formed in 1990 GS have produced a number of demos, singles and EPs over the tears and a couple of years back in 2022 they released digital 12 track ST ‘Pastlife’ which collected some of that past output. 25th October sees new album ‘Retrograde’ released made up of ten new tracks.
Getting stuck right in ‘Ram Me Down’ the first single sports a great riff and keys and has a real early 80s classic rock vibe, it’s melodic enough whilst still rocking and has a great vocal from Glover. ‘Shameless’ that follows starts with an atmospheric wail of guitars before settling into a groove, it’s a mid-tempo grower with a great solo that already hints at the variety to come. It’s ‘Money Power Love’ though which picks up the pace, that makes a great opening salvo of three assured rockers. It’s a great atmospheric track kinda like early Icon meets early Ratt.
Next up ‘Here Comes the Shade’ takes us back to that slower moodier side with strummed guitar and a slow build to the vocal. It’s a longer number with plenty going on and whilst there’s no huge peaks or punchy chorus, it’s one that sticks and gets better with each listen
‘Soul Sister’ opens similarly with strummed guitar before exploding midway into full electric life. It kinda reminds me of bands like Sweet F.A. and has huge potential – It could well be my favourite here and as Power Ballads go this is a gem.
‘Adrenaline Junkie’ has an opening that you feel Metallica would love as it slowly launches into the song with gentle acoustics and spoken words. It’s a heavier song that’s a nice reminder that before we got obsessed with genres there was just Rock. It’s another winner.
‘World Gone Crazy’ opens with more spoken word but in rides a riff that is 100% early 80’s L.A. it struts and swaggers in all the right ways and for me is another sure-fire winner. ‘In 2 Ya’ opens with another spoken intro which is a bit of a theme here that makes it stand apart, this one though is slower and groovier and bubbles on the electronic beat before slipping into a smooth chorus that is more Dan Reed or King of the Kill than 80’s hard rock. It shows a certain conviction to back yourselves with songs like this and that’s certainly one of the reasons this release stands out.
‘Sunshine and Flowers’ takes that thought and edges in a different direction again, smoldering with dirtier guitars underlining it, and a smooth verse and almost hypnotic chorus. It feels a decade away from anything that precedes it. I personally would place it high in my list of highlights even though in a way it feels like a stand-alone single sonically.
‘D.R.O.W.N.I.N.G.’ that closes is another song that feels like it is floating in its own sea, it’s another slower number, which is something that we keep coming back to (not a bad thing, the variety of those numbers are the saving grace), though it holds its own and has elements of everything from Alt-Rock to the languid ballads of bands like Vain. You could argue that it’s a song that opens another door or that it confuses things as to the direction we’re headed. It’s a great song don’t get me wrong but one a feel laced at the end makes more of a statement than it perhaps is.
Very much an album that gets to the basics, with a vibe of the early days of the sunset strip when bands were more concerned about writing great songs to get signed, than the later days when they worried more about which of their girlfriends’ clothes to wear onstage…