Velocity is a band who could have been frozen back in the ’80s
\nand just thawed out in 1999. Sounding a lot like both Foreigner and
\nBad Company when both bands decided to use some testosterone, their
\nmusic features crunching guitars, clean leads, occasional cock-rock
\nflirtations and a whole lotta attitude… and I’m lovin’ every
\nminute of it.<\/p>\n
Essentially a two-man band (with the addition of Mr. Big drummer
\nPat Torpey), Velocity – David Victor and Chris Dodge – throw
\ncaution to the wind and play the music they like on
\nImpact<\/i>. It is a reminder of how good hard rock could be in
\nthe ’80s… and how good it still sounds today when performed
\ncorrectly. (Side note: Velocity has since fleshed out its lineup
\nwith drummer Bob Gaut and bassist Chris Thornton.)<\/p>\n
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that the lyrical content isn’t
\nexactly
\nWar And Peace<\/i> – but when was the last time you listened to
\nhard rock as fine literature? And as long as Victor can continue to
\ndeliver the goods as well as he does on this album, you won’t hear
\nme complaining too much. (In fact, the only negative I could point
\nout would be Victor’s diction; sometimes what I heard in a song and
\nwhat the lyric sheet said were polar opposites.)<\/p>\n
What Velocity also has going for them is that they’re not
\nconcerned about the mile-a-minute solos. Granted, both Victor and
\nDodge are very good guitarists, and both are able to whip out some
\ntasty solos. But it often seems like the melody of the song is more
\nimportant than whacking off on the guitar neck – which is a
\nrefreshing change of pace.<\/p>\n
Tracks like “You Don’t Amaze Me Anymore,” “She’s Been Around”
\nand “Riot Goin’ On” all adequately show the kind of talent that
\nVelocity has – even to the point of doing a ballad of sorts
\n(“Supernatural Lover”) and being able to pull it off without
\nsounding cheesy.<\/p>\n
There were only two weak points on
\nImpact<\/i>. First, after an album filled with songs that were
\nwell-written and devoid of teenage sexual braggadocio, “One Minute
\nTo Midnight” comes around and puts the focus back on getting laid
\n(“Skip the flick \/ Cut to the chase \/ Baby, yeah baby, you’re gonna
\nfeel some rhythm tonight \/ Love rhythm”). Damn… the hopes of
\nmoving forward dashed again by penis worship.<\/p>\n
The only other weak point was the instrumental closer, “Open
\nRoad”. While I’m not suggesting that doing an instrumental is a bad
\nthing, this one could have used a bit more development before
\nunleashing it on the public – especially in the abrupt ending to
\nthe song, which doesn’t reconcile well.<\/p>\n
Still, these two points aren’t that big when compared to the
\nwhole album, and
\nImpact<\/i> is a solid slab of rock that pays respects to the
\npast while making the sound fit today’s scene. If there’s any
\njustice, Velocity should see their career take off like a
\nrocket.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7418],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-39026","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-velocity","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39026"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}