Hard Rock
Independent Release
Released – December 2023
Line Up:
Russell Peake – Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar
Pete Checkley – Lead Guitar
Alan Mills – Bass
Mick Hales – Drums
Tracklist:
1 – More More More
2 – All They Way
3 – Got The Time
4 – If I Stay
5 – Destiny
6 – Nightwalker
7 – Forever
8 – Paroxysm
9 – Mind Games
10 – Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft
Here we have the next installment of Russell Peake’s extraordinary musical brain. Having reviewed pretty much every Electus record, I was certainly excited when this dropped into my inbox.
Kicking off with the bouncy heavy boogie of ‘More, More, More’ gets the head nodding immediately. It’s simple, melodic, and just heavy enough to make you gurn while you air-guitar. Alan Mills’ huge bass opens ‘All The Way’ before it’s joined by a big expensive riff and a mighty Neanderthal drum pattern from the heavy-hitting Mick Hales. This grooves like a monster and has Russell Peake stretching his vocals.
‘Got The Time’ starts as a simple chugger before it develops into a radio-friendly pop rocker all driven along by Mills’ throbbing bass line. ‘If I Stay’ is a quality slice of melodic rock that shows another side of Peake’s unique voice, then the blistering ‘Destiny’ gives us another rapid heavy rocker that hits the right spot before the melodic radio rock returns on ‘NightWalker,’ where again Peake stretches those vocal cords.
‘Forever’ is a darker groove with some falsetto that keeps things interesting, then we get some ‘gob iron’ on the intro to ‘Paroxysm,’ which settles into a reverb-heavy blues grind thanks to that massive Mills bass. ‘Mind Games’ brings a whole lot of modern rock to the party, with Peake coming on like Leonard Cohen with his deep almost spoken word vocal before he lets it all go on the chorus. Fabulous stuff.
I must admit that I do like a cover version, especially when people make it different, well. Electus has done the business with the Carpenters classic ‘Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft’ and made it arena-sized. This is a real step up from the last record, which was superb. If the world was fair, Electus would be huge, but I think they were born too late.
20-30 years ago, these guys would have been mega. The music sounds complex, but it’s pretty simple and direct. It’s really well-produced, with everything sounding huge and crystal clear, and boy has Peake developed as a singer. When he once sounded reluctant, he now pushes his voice. Get this record – you will not be disappointed.
Written by: Smudge
Ratings: 9/10
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