Defy All Reason – The Road Ahead

May 11th 2015 will see the official release date of the long awaited debut album from Wrexham based Defy All Reason. Early promise was shown by a 4 track E.P Every Second Counts but they have now matured into a force to be reckoned with. 13 tracks at a running time of just under an hour is proof of their songwriting prowess with 12 originals and a boisterous cover of ‘Wanted Dead Or Alive’ . It could be the perfect summer album to blast out of your car window with the driver’s window down as the production (handled by the band themselves) is very guitar heavy. In fact, drummer Todd Edwards also handled engineering and mixing duties!

The high quality writing suss hits hard from the off with album opener ‘Midnight Train’ with a crunching main riff providing a foil to Gavin Jones’ gritty vocal. There is no chorus but the song builds into a bridge with great multi tracked backing vocals as a wailing guitar solo precedes a brooding finish similar to the break in Velvet Revolver’s ‘She Likes Machines’. Other highlights are following track ‘Bad Blood’, the first single taken from the album built on a solid drum backbone. A huge chorus built is belted out over a headbanging inducing riff  laced with some neat guitar fills.

The first of the big hitters is next and is always a showstopper in a live setting. ‘Behind Those Eyes’ is one of those songs in the vein of ‘Love To Love’ by UFO or ‘I Believe In You’ by Y&T for example that can tug at the emotions and have you rocking out at the same time. Originally on the Every Second Counts E.P, it has been given a new lease of life emotionally and musically. Gavin pours his heart and soul into the lyrics and the riffs are heavier with an AC/DC groove in the choruses with gentle picking in the verses and the outro solo is a supreme tour de force . ‘You Get Me High’ is another slab of commercial hard rock which should sneak it’s away onto rock radio playlists with it’s guitar laden grooves and a catchy but heavy chorus.

‘Bad Taste Of You’ is a slow burning tale of lost love with an instantly memorable main riff and  chorus to match. ‘I Run’ has an air of classic UFO with more intense vocal harmonies. ‘Because Of You’ is almost stoner rock with some hard hitting fuzzed up riffs building up to a Deep Purple like outro  and Jon Lord like keyboards from Todd. ‘Wanted Dead Or Alive’ is a testosterone fuelled take on Bon Jovi’s version with bigger guitars and vocals making it a very worthy cover.

‘The Only One’ is a lighters in the air ballad that cranks the volume up on the choruses but my favourite track is ‘Redemption’. It follows ‘Cure For Healing, a brief string intro which leads into slide guitar drenched Southern rock with thumping drum patterns. A laid back lead vocal and a ‘Children Of The Grave’ like mid section precede a slow ending over a howl of feedback.

The Road Ahead will be self released and available by hard copy from www.defyallreason.bigcartel.com and digitally via iTunes, Amazon and Defy All Reason’s band store. It was funded by Pledge Music, very fan friendly with some great formats to buy and the target figure was reached well within the allotted time due.

Defy All Reason band line up :-

Gavin Lee Jones – Lead vocals/guitars.

Darren Jones – Guitars/backing vocals.

Lee Shenton – Bass guitar.

Todd Edwards – Drums/backing vocals.

Album track listing :-

Midnight Train.

Bad Blood.

Behind Those Eyes.

You Get Me High.

Bad Taste Of You.

Finding My Way (back to you).

Shame.

I Run.

Because Of You.

Wanted Dead Or Alive.

The Only One.

Cure For Healing.

Redemption.