SANCHEZ - review added 8th September 2009
EP Review: Nightride EP (2009)
For fans of: Hard Rock... and bands with a 'dirty' name
Swedish band Sanchez already have a full length album to their name - 2007's self-titled debut, plus concerts with artists like Paul Di'Anno and White Lion. This EP, they're second release, bridges the gap between their first and 2010's second studio albums.
At the time of recording, Sanchez consisted of José Sanchez on vocals, Pontus Swanberg on guitar and Alex Oriz on bass. According to their MySpace page the line-up now looks somewhat different with José the only one who hasn't departed to pastures new.
Nightride is a hard rocking album with a party-hard bent and some fine musicianship. José Sanchez's vocals sound not dissimilar to Johan Fahlberg of Jaded Heart - he has that same soaring, trained sounding voice and intriguing tone.
The title track cracks things off and, well, it's quite different to the rest of the album. Ingemar Eriksson and Mathilda Eriksson provide some very cheesy backing vocals and they, combined with the bouncy nature of the song create a brilliant atmosphere. It's a genuinely good track and, although José's vocals are arguably a touch too metal, if the whole EP had sounded like this it would have been a winner. 'Lovely' is a heavier, pace-fuelled track and, whilst not as good as the first, still has a hard rocking appeal.
'Chasing The Sun' is a self-confident addition to the album. It pulsates with energy and has a solid-as-a-solid-thing chorus you could build a skyscraper on. Pontus Swanberg's solo is short but very sweet. 'In The Night' is an 80's hair metal styled track that would have done Motley Crue proud. It's got cool double kick drums towards the end - shame they are so short lived. Final track 'Too Bad' is a distinctly average way to finish the album. The guitars sound frighteningly good but the rest of the song is a tad, dare I say, boring.
This is a nice little EP. 4 of the 5 songs are very good - not amazing, but enjoyable all the same. The musicianship is excellent, although I'm not 100% convinced that José's singing is quite right for this style of music. Definitely worth a purchase.
Check out... The cheesy female backing vocals. More please!
Track List:
1. Nightride
2. Lovely
3. Chasing the Sun
4. In the Night
5. Too Bad
Label: Blue Topaz Recordings
Artist's website(s): MySpace
