Have you ever heard of New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM)? Let me explain. With the demise of the Punk movement in England in the mid to late 70’s, a lot of hard Rock bands started to come to the surface. Bands like IRON MAIDEN, JUDAS PRIEST and MOTORHEAD to name a few. These bands were already influenced by the earlier British bands like LED ZEPPELIN, DEEP PURPLE and BLACK SABBATH. The history of British rock is immense and loaded with different styles and looks. There are so many ramifications to get me lost, so let's go back to NWOBHM. These bands were already touring all over the world except the USA at that time, and in an effort to mimic THE BEATLES invasion of 1964, British Bands invaded the USA in the 80’s  and early 90’s with great success. That era of British Rock has a specific sound, composition style, and production recognizable at first listen.

This huge preface is just to introduce the band COLTRE from London, UK. Is surprising to see new bands locked in a music style once very prominent in the past. The band is releasing a new album entitled To Watch With Hands To Touch With Eyes that would fit perfectly in the British Rock scene from the 70’s and 80’s. The musicianship, riff creation and overall sound  is like entering a time machine. It sounds poor production wise like a T-REX album or a very early JUDAS PRIEST. The album has 8 tunes and amongst them some pearls like “Friends Aren't Electric” that sounds like early Progressive Rock. The band was created in 2019 by 2 student friends, guitarists Daniel Sweed and Marco Stamigna, who also sings. Joined later by bass player Max Schreck and drummer Edoardo Mariotti,  the band drinks from all the right sources and mix them in the album and even in a single song as you can hear in “Through the Looking Glass” that has even hints of EMERSON LAKE AND PALMER. The album is uneven however in certain aspects. The 2nd half of the album is better than the first one.

The early tunes like “Feast of the Outcast” or “Rat Race” are good, but compared to the later ones in the album they look not as polished. Marco Stamigna also does the vocal duties and this may not be the best fit. The vocals are fine but they are not impressive or flawless. You can see the effort to reach some notes and sometimes they are not fully reached. The album sound and production is very raw and I do not know if this is by design or by lack of funds. I believe it may be the latter. The band has great potential and this is shown in “Temptress “ that sounds a lot like early IRON but with a weak vocal that's too buried in the mix. Interesting bass lines and good guitar riffs and solos all over the album. Good drumming as well but the album misses a better sound production and vocal output. In my opinion this would greatly contribute to the final product and bring their sound more to the forefront. You can play the style of the era, but the production does not need to be  from the period as well. I do understand how hard it is to put an album with a good quality… in the 80’s! Not today. With the tools we have available nowadays, we can get good quality sound with a lower budget and the guys could benefit from this. We do not see many bands exploring this style of music so dear to my heart and I do wish that COLTRE evolves and presents our ears with a better sounding album as the songs are interesting and have potential. Good effort that needs a couple of adjustments to be great.