Harmony Factory / Cargo Records
UK Release: 27 November 2020
Line Up:
DAMIEN EDWARDS (Jeff Wayne’s ‘War of the Worlds’) – Lead & backing vocals GREG HART (Asia, Mike Oldfield, Moritz) – Guitars, acoustic guitars, vocals, tubular bells, Moog STEEVI BACON – (Robin Trower) Drums, percussion, timpani, harmonica, whistles ANDY STEWART (Moritz) – Piano, electric piano, synthesizers DEAN HOWARD (Ian Gillan, Bad Company) – Guitars, slide guitar JEFF BROWN – (Sweet) Bass guitars, vocals
Tracklist:
1. Dive! 2. Spaceship Superstar 3. Revolution 4. Sunday Best 5. Listen To The Radio 6. I Fell Out Of Love With Rock ‘n Roll 7. Marionettes 8. Queen Of The Neverland 9. Magic Lovin’ Feelin’ 10. Can’t Wait For Tomorrow 11. Seasons Change 12. Atlantis
Actually the previous album Daytrip to Narnia of the British band CATS IN SPACE didn’t make a real big impression on yours truly, which is a pity, because I really thought this band was going upwards after their sensational earlier releases. Anyway, we’re only 1 year later and the whole world has changed meanwhile due to the coronavirus, but also CATS IN SPACE went through a change, because we enter new lead singer DAMIEN EDWARDS, an amazing singer who sings like a king out of the classic Pomprock/AOR heaven from the 1970s and early 1980s.
The music is big, anthemic and bombastic again and Atlantis is definitely the best record CATS IN SPACE have put out since their start. I can imagine all the AOR/Pomprock fans out there will absolutely be blown away here by the finest release in this genre since BOSTON, STYX, TOUCH, ROADMASTER and such delivered their majestic masterpieces over 40+ years ago! 12 songs are included here and basically you don’t want it to stop, as this is how it should sound like! After the short intro Dive!, we head into sensational classic 1970s uptempo AOR/Pomp/Melodic Rock in the style of BOSTON with the superb Spaceship superstar, which sounds like a soon-to-be-classic in the future.
It is clear that the production and sound of this new CATS IN SPACE album is simply amazing, with a focus on big harmony vocals like it was also done by bands like QUEEN, ELO, BOSTON and many more 40+ years ago! Following Revolution is a big time uptempo melodic hardrock song with once again an anthemic harmony vocals driven chorus and some THIN LIZZY kinda approach in the guitar sound. Sunday best introduce dut-dut keys and this is basically Pomprock heaven, dangerously close to the 1979 TOUCH classic, with also some QUEEN similarities. We’re only in the beginning of the new CATS IN SPACE album and it looks set to be one of 2020’s finest album releases!
The vocals, harmony and overall sound of the following AOR/Melodic Rocker Listen to the radio is simply amazing and is back to the classic sound of this genre (BOSTON meets ORION). Here we can hear really well what an incredible singer Damien is, reminding me of a cross between the TOUCH singer DOUG HOWARD, ex-LIONHEART vocalist CHAD LOWE, AIRRACE singer KEITH MURRELL and FRAN COSMO of BOSTON/ORION. The TOUCH/QUEEN ish theatrical epic semi Pomprock ballad I fell out of love with rock’n’roll follows and when hearing this song it is like we are back in the glorious 1970s again! If there ever was a possibility to melt the best of 1970s URIAH HEEP, 1970s QUEEN and TOUCH into one song, it would be the amazing Pomprocker Marionettes, which is perhaps the finest song CATS IN SPACE ever recorded!
It captures everything you want to hear in a classic Pomp/AOR/Melodic Rock song, with tempo changes, calmer parts, uptempo rockier moments and lovely melodies all over the place, somehow reminding me also of the legendary SUGARCREEK and a bit of KAYAK as well! Bigger is better is the name of the game during the anthemic arena melodic rocker Queen of the neverland, which is sounding like the perfect cross between QUEEN and STYX! Magic lovin’ feelin’ is the Pomprock/Melodic Rock missing link between BOSTON, STINGRAY and TOUCH, basically fitting in right between them and this could have actually been recorded back in 1978. I must say here that I haven’t heard such a wonderful new album in a long time that is as good as this new CATS IN SPACE album, which is basically a total must-have for anyone who misses the days of QUEEN, BOSTON, TOUCH, STYX and such Pomprock bands from the 1970s.
Can’t wait for tomorrow is slowing things down a bit, with superb vocals of Damian, this is a lovely epic powerful AOR. Pomprock ballad in the classic 1970s style. I once again really need to point out that Damian has such a beautiful voice I haven’t heard in ages and it’s so great to hear new songs with such a gifted singer!
The album continues with another big anthemic Pomp/Melodic Rocker titled Seasons change, which also reminds me a bit of LIONHEART’s Hot tonight album from the 1980s, while closing track is the title track, another majestic QUEEN/TOUCH ish semi-ballad anthem. CATS IN SPACE have reached the absolute superstardom in Pomprock/Classic AOR/Melodic Rock with this new album, easily beating any release in the genre of the past 10-20 years! Check them out please for God’s sake!!!
Written by: Gabor Kleinbloesem
Ratings: Gabor 9/10
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