Released by: Frontiers Music s.r.l.

Release Date: Out Now!!!

Genre: Rock

Line-up:

Ray West – Lead Vocals

Rob De Luca – Bass, Vocals

Ziv Shalev – Guitars

Rik De Luca – Drums, Percussion

Tracklist:

1.Subway To The Stars
2.29Th Of February
3.Sound Of Speed
4.Dead Air
5.Grand Scam
6.More Wolf Than Lamb
7.Cut Through
8.Little Serpentina
9.Antisocial Butterfly
10.Gutter Rhymes For Valentines
11.Solitaire

Frankly, I don’t give a damn what fans of bands think: it is the band’s prerogative to change their sound. Fans can damn and hate on that change, but a band doesn’t owe even its fan base continuity outside of quality. Obviously, if a band goes from being skilled to dumbing it down, that’s considerably different from changing their sound whether it is slight or changing a genre. I know plenty of folks with disagreeing with me on this, and I’m honestly cool with that. Music is subjective and my enjoyment of something doesn’t have to be validated by anyone else’s opinion. Sure, I’ll also be the first to admit that a lot of the bands that I love tend to remain faithful to their signature sound, but some bands have made some changes and made me like them a bit more. Spread Eagle is one of those bands.

Admittedly it had been some time since I had listened to their first two albums, so when Subway To the Stars hit the streets there was a ton of derision towards it, and it didn’t make sense to me because I rather enjoyed it. I dusted off the s/t and Open To The Public albums and I understood to a degree, but I still didn’t understand some of the hate it got. To me Subway To the Stars was a natural progression- much like the first two albums were from one another. Yeah, the latest is a bit more modernish, but not so much that the appeal of the band is gone. They still sound great, the songs are still catchy, and much like their earlier work shows why they stood apart from their contemporaries. Tracks like “Sound of Speed,” “29th of February,” “Little Serpentina,” and “More Wolf Than Lamb” sound like they stood up well to those first two classics.

Maybe it’s a sacred cow sort of thing. I know that Spread Eagle has long been one of those bands that never quite achieved the level of success as some of their far less deserving peers (they always had better songs) and both of these albums are held in such high regard that nothing was ever going to satisfy the diehard lifelong fans. I feel like the biggest change, outside of being a little darker, is the vocals are a bit different, but you can still tell it is Ray West, he’s just not singing in the same fashion as before. I applaud the new album and am glad they returned to the recording world. Subway To the Stars is a fine return for such an overlooked band.

Written by: Chris Martin