Frontiers Music SRL has announced the signing of ABOUT US, an exciting new melodic hard rock band hailing from Nagaland, India, and more specifically from a district in the state of Nagaland called Wokha (Land of Plenty). I am about to go down a road I've never traveled before, listen to and review a rock band from India. Self-described as "An experimental hard rock musical band" with backgrounds as government officials, entrepreneurs, educationist and social worker. Formed in 2019, they released the single "Loaded Love" in 2020 to mixed reviews and followed with the music video "Gimme Gimme" in 2021 to a more positive response and finally unleashing the self-titled debut album in December 2022. I love the bands explanation of the origin of their name: "Music brings us all together. We wanted to come up with a name which would be relevant not only to the band members but to everyone, 'a sense of togetherness'. So you see it is not about me or about you. It is about all of us, hence ABOUT US". So please join me as we take this musical trip onto uncharted waters from a country known for silk, cricket, tigers and the invention of yoga and chess.

The album opens up with "Right Now", which is a pleasant, ear pleasing melodic, pop-oriented song, with smooth vocals coupled with symphonic harmonizing. Would have been a perfect theme song for a TV sitcom. Must have been a playful tease, because "Gimme Gimme" comes barreling in with a harder, dirty riff matched with steamy vocals, catchy riff and chorus. Some impressive, explosive rocking screams from Sochan Kikon. Keeping the rocking momentum going with "Lead my Heart", powerful guitar leads the way into a deluge of pounding riffs and golden vocals, a true heavy-duty song. "Rise" is BON JOVI on steroids. Three songs that really showcase how good this band can be are "Rock on Top", "Our Fairyland" and "Golden Troop", with meaty, robust rock riffs, solid foundation of searing vocals and seductive harmonizing. We end the album exactly where we started with a pop-oriented song on "Love and Affection".

A very impressive debut album, there is a ton of potential, first overall, the pipes of Sochan are stellar and really set the pace. Musically, they are tight and brazen with tasty, swaggering hooks and riffs. When they rock, they rock. The only drawback keeping this album from earning the "kick-ass" tag is the assortment of soft and cheesy radio friendly songs. They proved they can rock, they need to stay with their strengths.