Brazil simply loves its rock music, just witness the hundreds of thousands who attend Rock in Rio. Unfortunately, they tend not to produce world famous bands, with the notable exception of Sepultura.
This is where Dirty Glory may step into the breach.
The band formed in 2011 and this album, Mind The Gap, is their debut full-length album, released on Perris Records.
They are a five-piece from São Paulo, consisting of Jimmi DG on vocals, Dee Machado and Reichhardt on guitar with Sas on drums and Vikki Sparkz on bass. My early thoughts led me to feel they fit nicely into the 90’s sleaze rock category. Their biggest influence is clearly G ‘n’ R, and if you want sleaze, who better to emulate? It turned out they were much more than that…….
The album opener, “Sticks and Stones”, gets proceedings off to a cracking start with vocals sounding like they’ve been phoned in, a la Green Day on “Holiday”. The chorus is a catchy one which is a pattern set throughout the album. A non-standard fast-fingered solo tops things off nicely.
“Failing The Test” doesn’t set the world on fire and starts off in more funky fashion, think Extreme with bloody noses. Still decent, though.
Top riffage sets the stage for “20 Years of Moving On” and it doesn’t let up. I’d imagine this to be a crowd pleaser with every opportunity to join in. There’s a neat little solo and fun harmonica work late on.
They then move into power ballad mode, 80’s style, with “Beyond Time”. It would definitely stand up to Rick Springfield’s best efforts.
Back to sleaze rock for “Black Lightning” which sounds a bit formulaic with shouty gang chorus, although Jimmi DG does give it everything up front, cracking solo to finish too.
If Dirty Glory want to break from the sleaze rock pigeonhole then “Fire” showcases their talents perfectly. Best opening on the album, great vocals, and quality solo, all delivered at the perfect pace. This one gave me goosebumps, love it.
“Damn The Human Race” seems to be Dirty Glory’s serious track. Vocals sounding like Michael Kiske (Helloween) off the Pink Bubbles Go Ape album. It’s not a standout track.
“Let’s take things down” Jimmi might say at a gig before getting into “Every Time I Think About You”. Lighters out everybody.
One striking thing about the whole album is that every solo is perfectly matched to its song and it’s chock full of them. Beautiful.
It’s back to crowd participation party time with “What’s Her Name Again?”, a 3 minute almost throwaway track. Fun.
“Mr. Jack” follows and is a bit standard. With a title like that, you’d want more. It is, though, saved by another great solo.
The penultimate track, “Modern Gods”, is a 5 minute 30 relative “epic”. It’s a call to arms sung with feeling and passion. Those goosebumps again….
To top off a stunning debut is another slow burner, “The Sentence”, taking the total to 3. I’m not complaining. It’s a beautiful ending but, most surprising of all, it doesn’t have a heart-wrenching solo which I was desperate for. Oh well.
To conclude, an album full of great vocals and beautiful guitaring which felt to me like it matured as it went on. Dirty Glory are no one trick pony, I think they can do what they want, whenever the hell they want to.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3BqWmCMJPA[/embedyt]
