Grab the hairspray and don those fashionably tight leather pants, Wild Souls have released another album Game of Love, which rocks you out from track to track. A testament to the 80s hard rock genre, the album is scattered with intense guitar solos and burgeoning emotional lyrics from lead singer George Nikolaou. Every track basically sounds like a 80s feature film love anthem, where the protagonist has to get the girl through unsurmountable trials and odds.
It’s an album of excess and gluttony. It has the feel of a band which is not willing to hold back and be sensible during production. Instead the band opts to challenge the listener’s expectations and push beyond what is the acceptable quantity of glam a rock album can have, which is no quantity at all.
Although the album doesn’t feature a terrifying amount of variety amongst the different tracks, there is another style and substance to suggest a consistence on the record. The record is definitely for the listener who is into a particular style and not expecting any surprises hidden in the album. Starting off with ‘Game of Love’, the record punches in loud and fast, at first welcoming the listener to a whiff of retro-rock. The same feeling is gathered from ‘Dirty Mind’ and ‘Shame On You’ too, which give the beginning of the album a balanced footing.
However, the record really does come into its own in the latter half of the record from ‘Rock My World’ onwards. With ‘Rock My World’ feeling like you are in the pit of a wild KISS concert, it’s definitely the party pleaser in the album.
‘Moonlight’ is arguably the standout track and is a crunchy track filled with extended crunchy power chords and doom harbouring, bassy riffs. Finishing up with a modestly sped up guitar solo, the track slowly builds up into a Gene Simmons-esque explosion.
‘One More Night’ reveals the more heartfelt side to the album and allows for a pleasing ballad that helps tie off the record. It opens with the sounds of a stormy night with a slightly bluesy feel and piano keys stabbing across the opening lyrics, it pulls on the heartstrings for sure. The album closes off with ‘I Need Your Love’ – feeling like a heartfelt call to arms in a desperate glam-rock plea for company, Game of Love certainly makes you feel what heartbreak was experienced to make this record.
TRACKLIST
Game of Love
Dirty Mind
Shame On You
Pretty Babe
Riding
Rock My World
Moonlight
One More Night
I Need Your Love
by Joseph Wilson
