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Wyldsky Wyldsky Review by Gary Hill Fans of classic hard rock should find plenty to like here. This has a lot in common with the music of the 1970’s, yet it’s modern. The group seem to combine the sounds of Guns N Roses with more classic rock elements and create their own motif that’s quite diverse. You’ll hear the blues here, but also southern rock and even hair metal. It all works some how. And these guys master something that seems a lost art – the idea of alternating hard rockers with mellower cuts to create a disc that has a life and an ebb and flow to it. A lot of bands could learn from this debut disc. I’d expect great things from these guys in the future, but this might be a tough first disc for them to top. This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2009 Volume 2 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review

Next World Sound effects start this off, but the group launch out into a smoking classic metal jam from there. As the guitars create melody there’s a mean, more modern texture to it. It drops back to a techno element and a processed spoken vocal comes over the top. From there they fire out into a sound that’s a bit like a more modern, meaner, Ted Nugent. We get an anthemic chorus here. There’s an almost southern rock classic rock jam later in this.

Holding On This comes in melodic and much more mellow. There’s a definite classic rock texture and as the vocals enter I tend to hear Guns N Roses meets Southern rock. It rocks out pretty well, but seems to stay true to these musical concepts. There’s a killer guitar solo on this.

Dog Daze Here’s a bluesy classic rocker. This feels like it could have come out of 1978, but there’s also some of that Guns N Roses thing going on here.

Rendezvous They give us another slow and melodic one here. This is even mellower than “Holding On.” I like the way they alternate the hard rockers with ballads. That’s the way to go. This track is a good one. It turns into a more anthemic hair metal ballad kind of piece as it carries on. It has a killer guitar solo and while this starts slowly it is one of the highlights of the disc.

My Baby This bluesy rocker reminds me of Lynyrd Skynyrd meets Nazareth with a healthy dosage of Aerosmith.

Comin' On Here’s a cool bit of contrast. They start this with the mellowest motif we’ve heard so far. A classically tinged acoustic guitar driven jam. It carries on as a ballad becoming rather bluesy, but then they fire out into some of the most metallic music on the whole disc. This is the highlight of the disc and represents such a cool twist as they alternate between these two motifs. This one by itself is worth the price of admission to the whole show. It reminds me a bit of Black Label Society, but there’s some more of that GNR thing going on, too.

Wild Honey The instrumental section that starts this feels like vintage Van Halen. They move it out to a song that seems to combine that element with some classic Montrose. It’s a real screamer. The guitar solo is especially tasty.

Nightmare and a Dream This track is essentially a powered up ballad. It’s a great number and a good change of pace. It’s got a definite classic rock texture.

Where You Belong Here they bring back a healthy dosage of those Southern rock sounds. I also make out plenty of Guns N Roses on this. It’s another strong tune, but the first point where they don’t follow up a ballad with a screamer. This is really a ballad in rocker clothing.

Goodbye Good Riddance They don’t change things up a lot here. It’s another track that has a powered ballad approach, but I can hear some Zeppelin on this, but also some hair metal. It’s a good tune and a good way to close things out. The angry little “so long, b***h” reminds me a lot of Guns N Roses, but then they give us a little acoustic hoe down (very bluegrass oriented) to end the disc.

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