Yeah, It's only Rock 'n' Roll but I like it. Still, I expected this kind of Rock 'n' Roll to be somehow more raw and in-your-face. Wrong: I expected it to be more old-school. I'm rather fond of Locomotive releases but Maeder and their debut full-length did not achieve to stay in my CD player for more than the spins needed to write this brief review. So long...
The band - assembled by the Maeder brothers - seems to have a good portion of reputation in their homeland, Australia. Their first EP, Business In Me, did score #30 in the Aussie charts plus their Another Thing Comin' tune was chosen to be the theme song for the Australian football Grand Final. I had the chance to see the video for this song a couple of days before listening to the Maeder album for the first time, so I kinda eventually 'shaped' some opinion in prior. From the land of AC/DC and ROSE TATTOO comes this band, also spending lots of time in Switzerland (that's where they met KROKUS drummer/producer Patrick Aeby) and - logically - you expect something like the aforementioned names.
Well, Maeder is and isn't like this (these). It mainly isn't, on second thought. OK, the guitar duo likes old fashioned (hard) Rock Rock 'n' Roll, so the tempos, chords and solos may remind you enough of AC/DC, AEROSMITH, (some of) DEEP PURPLE and KISS. For the newer fans, similarities to the likes of GOTTHARD or post-80s DEF LEPPARD are not out of the question, too. Still, listening to the vocals and the (in general) production of this album it's obvious the band has spent lots of spiritual work to 'rearrange' this 'old' Rock 'n' Roll close enough to the Alternative/ New Rock style.
While Another Thing Comin' is nice and It's All Good can be considered the best tune off the whole album, I see limited of chances some 'classic' Hard Rock fan will find interest in this, any way, well-worked CD. Let aside the fact what kind of a juvenile fan will 'search' for a Locomotive release in this style. In person: try it before you buy it, please.