Nottingham mob make a bold statement
Back in the late summer- and doesn’t that seem a lifetime ago when the John Lewis Christmas ad is released and boring the tits off us all? – MV found itself in the upstairs room of a pub in Leicester City Centre at the album launch of Resin.
For that gig they gathered together a collection of rather good rock bands, but opening up were Nottingham’s Beckon Lane. In what might seem an orgy of self-congratulation (but actually has a point, we promise!) here’s some what MVM wrote about them that night: “Beckon Lane haven’t down the M1 to die wondering. The Nottingham four piece are muscular and thumping from their opening riff. But then so are a lot of bands. What gives this particular brew a touch of difference is singer Lewis Phillis’ voice. The classic rock element it has adds a timeless quality. That is to say trends may come and trends may go, but there’s always going to be a call for someone who can howl a little somewhere between Dio and Myles Kennedy.”
And although we say it ourselves (so ok it probably was an orgy of self congratulation on reflection) those thoughts aren’t too far away when you listen to this three tracker, which will emerge early next year.
There’s very little better in music than a band that takes what others do and seems to say: yeah that’s all very well and all, but we’ll do it this way, thanks. That mindset certainly appears to prevail here. Opener “Jaded” has a stoner riff, a hard rock swagger, a Heavy metal gallop and an almost mystical side in its five and a half minutes – and despite all this, works incredibly well.
And, the scamps, they are at it again on the second track “Divided” which they played in Leicester, sounded good then and sounds good now. All of BL’s hallmarks are in place – that is to say it sounds like they’ve blended everything in heavy rock just to see what happens. And you sense they are only just getting started given the epic landscape of “Lost Myself” which gives itself a little longer to flesh out all its ideas, from Sabbath and Rainbow to Alter Bridge and just about everything else on the spectrum in between.
It all makes for a hugely enjoyable and massively ambitious glimpse into the world of a band that you sense is capable of something truly special.
Rating 8.5/10
