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Night Herons

Relevant Noise

Review by Gary Hill

The mix of glam rock, punk and more here is nothing exceptionally unique. These guys just do a great job of making this sound work. For the most part it never feels tired or redundant. That said, I think perhaps trimming a couple of the songs from the set would have made for a better experience. Still, it's darned good like this. Besides, a lot of people these days only listen to a few songs and not the whole album. All in all, if you like bands like The New York Dolls, you should dig these guys.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2017  Volume 6 at  garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2017.

Track by Track Review
Compromise

With a parental advisory, this is a cool hard rocker. It's not quite punk, but it has a definite raw edge. I love the riff that drives it, and the whole cut just works well.

Fighters & Lovers
The glam rock sounds on this work really well. It definitely has a bit of that raw punk edge. In a lot of ways this makes me think of something the New York Dolls might do.
Blurred
A hard rocking stomper, this has plenty of that glam meets punk sound built into it. I like the vocal arrangement on this quite a bit.
Wildfires
Fuzz-laden, this is a bit mellower than some of the rest. The chorus hook is particularly catchy.
Sunflowers
There is a healthy helping of psychedelia built into this raw rocker. It feels like something that could have come out of the 1960s garage rock school.
Glaciers
Definitely on the rough side of the equation, there is a lot of punk rock built into this. It's a rather melodic and almost balladic cut, though. In some ways it makes me think of The Lords of the New Church just a bit. It's a killer number that's one of my favorites here.
Let Me In

With  a great balance between mellower and harder rocking stuff, this is a cool tune. It has punk rock in the mix along with old school rock and roll and more. It's moody and rather dark.

Feels Like a Breakdown
A mellower tune, this is more of a rough around the edges folk rocker in a lot of ways. It gets into some glam territory as it works forward.
2x2
I love the instrumental section mid-track on this thing. It's a hard rocking jam that has a lot of classic rock built into it. There is plenty of that New York Dolls kind of thing here, too.
Blue River
Raw and punk oriented, this is a energized and rocking. This isn't any kind of reinvention of the wheel, but it rocks.
Bad Idea
A harder rocker, this has a cool rock and roll riff driving it. There is a punk rock edge to it. It's one of my favorites on the disc.
Stay Awake

There is a bit of a grunge vibe to this number. It has a slight space rock thing at play, too. It's another solid rocker on a disc that's full of them. The guitar solo brings into rather psychedelic territory.

Razorblade

Punk and glam are merged on this rocker. It's not a big change or anything Earth-shattering. It's a cool and catchy rocker, though. The melodic sections on this are intriguing for sure, but the chorus and rocking portions really sell it.

10.000 Women

I love the hard rocking edge to this cut. It's part old school rock and roll, part NWOBHM and part punk. This is one of the coolest songs here. The guitar solo section makes me think of some early hardcore.

Overload
Punk and raunch and roll merge on this number. It's good, but it's not at the level of some of the rest. This is one of the tracks that I think could have been left off the set.
 
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