It rocks. It really loves rocking
Changing singer is always a difficult thing to do. For some bands it works. Think Iron Maiden when they got rid of Paul Di’anno and replaced him with Bruce Dickinson. For some bands it doesn’t work. Think Iron Maiden when they replaced Bruce Dickinson with Blaze Bayley.
So it was with some interest that we picked up the new Voodoo Circle record. Jettisoning the ever-impressive David Readman (who left in 2016) was a big move, as he had been integral to the sound of the band ever since Alex Beyrodt formed them at the tail end of the last decade.
The first few minutes of “Raised On Rock” are enough to allay any fears.
The opening track “Running Away From Love” has a real Saxon thing going on, and is proof that Beyrodt is a formidable guitar player, but moreover it shows Herbie Langhans is perfect in the role as frontman. Indeed, as the record progresses, it becomes clear that his presence enables them to do things that they wouldn’t have been able to with their previous singer at the helm (that isn’t to denigrate either Readman any of the other albums either, by the way).
Guitarist and singer only met at the Wacken festival a couple of years back, but sound comfortable enough here to have been lifelong friends on the bands most accomplished record to date.
VC always had a bit of a bluesy air about them, but they mix it with a healthy dollop of sleaze on “Higher Love”, which also features a talkbox like Bon Jovi did in 1986, “Walk The Line” is bombast in a way that stays just shy of out and out power metal – although you feel they would cheerfully go the whole hog in a heartbeat.
The guitar work here is incredibly versatile. The best way to describe “You Promised Me” is to say that if Van Halen played southern rock, they’d do this. They are effortlessly, it seems, able to follow this up with “Just Take My Heart” which is happily AOR and the kind of thing you might here when Langhans sings the rockier numbers in Avantasia.
They are capable of immense balladry too. “Where Is The World We Love” wishes with all its heart it was on Whitesnake’s “1987” record, but just as thrilling when it’s got its fists in the air and is headbanging to the end on “Ultimate Sin” which lets be honest, has more than a hint of Dio era Rainbow.
“Unknown Stranger”, with its eerie swirls, occupies roughly the same ballpark as “November Rain”, but everything here is rather in the shadow of the brilliant Deep Purple boogie of “Unknown Stranger” which features Corvin Bahn (who helps out on keyboards here) to the fore giving it his very best Jon Lord impression.
The only thing “…Rock” has lacked to this point is an epic. “Dreamchaser” provides that and Richie Blackmore or Jimmy Page would be happy with the paths this treads (no hyperbole here either). And it finishes with some prime Led Zep sounding stuff too. “Love Is An Ocean” might be based around acoustics, but it is anything stripped down and it finds quite the crescendo before the end.
If you call an album “Raised On Rock” then you are almost beholden to make the damn thing sound like your heroes would have made it sound. The 11 songs here show that Voodoo Circle can do that and more. The five men responsible for it have a total mastery of their craft.
Rating 8/10
