By: Jesse Striewski
My go-to response when asked what type of music I listen to is almost always “metal.” But unlike the average fans’ definitions of metal, I’m not referring to the likes of Korn (to be fair, I love all genres of it, though nu/mainstream metal remains at the bottom of the list for me…). Canada’s Lockhart – a “supergroup” of sorts featuring members of bands like Cauldron and Annihilator – are right up my alley.
Their new EP No Chance contains the type of AOR /classic metal sound that makes me making music myself (if I were still in a band it’d be exactly the sound I would want to achieve). And while it’s just three brief tracks in length, each one packs enough of a punch that it hardly matters.
Opener “No Chance in Heaven” is simply addictive with it’s synth-driven hooks a la Van Halen’s “Jump,” and “Just Can’t Wait” is equally poppy and gets stuck in your head. “Under Fire”is no doubt the heavy-ist track here, and is also worthy of turning up to eleven.
This is not just music assembled here, it’s the soundtrack to lives captured on tape (or whatever it was recorded on, though it sounds like it should’ve been recorded during the analog era!). I honestly love this in every way possible. Do yourself a favor and crank this instead of whatever they’re feeding you on mainstream radio these days…you might just be glad you did.
Rating: 5/5 Stars
