Chris Black just can’t help himself, can he? The brains, talent and, well, everything behind High Spirits can’t stop producing high-quality sonic blasts to our consciousness.
Following on from last year’s Motivator, Escape! continues in the vein of highly polished, melodic, riff-laden assaults on the senses.
The 4 songs and 15 minutes serve up exactly what you would expect from creative whirlwind Black, but anybody wanting huge variety will be disappointed. Having said that, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. With High Spirits, Black has found a winning formula which I for one buy into completely and utterly.
The riffs are powerful and melodic, the vocals are meaningful and intense and the solos are fast, concise and searing. What more do you want? Blood?
Out on High Roller Records, Escape! opens with the title track and Black is at his powerful best. Hitting his straps straight away, he covers familiar ground of finding inspiration and love in someone. Sweeping riffs lead to melodic solos, it is sweet stuff.
On this EP, Black has introduced more supporting backing vocal melodies which are a welcome addition.
The quick ditty “Feels Like Rock n Roll” is up next, with a cracking intense little solo in it, followed hot on its heels by “Stagefright”. This top toe-tapper gets the blood flowing and is fairly self-explanatory. Once again, we have pacey riffs and power aplenty.
Finally, we have Escape!’s top track. Slowing down ever-so-slightly, there feels to be more depth to “Lonely Nights” and more emotion to Chris’s vocals. The chorus is catchy as, and there is also more emotion in his fret-work. I imagine this song to be a lot more personal to Black than the others, although I may be wrong.
All in all, Escape! is High Spirits as we know them, and for the love of God, please don’t change!
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuzPp–Ipjc[/embedyt]
