{"id":38837,"date":"2014-03-28T07:13:45","date_gmt":"2014-03-28T12:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=38837"},"modified":"2014-03-28T07:13:45","modified_gmt":"2014-03-28T12:13:45","slug":"diesel-into-the-fire-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/diesel-into-the-fire-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Diesel | Into The Fire<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska<\/span>
\n– Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"DieselWere you awe-stricken by any of the W.E.T. releases, or Joe Lynn Turner\u2019s project Sunstorm? Were the classic records of the \u201880s era Rainbow, FM and Foreigner a soundtrack to your youth? And the most important issue, perhaps \u2013 do you treasure post-Rodgers era Bad Company albums as much as their classic \u201870s catalogue? If an answer to most of these questions was \u201cyes,\u201d then most probably you have an incurable case of AOR\/melodic rock-related affection. And if you do, watch out for a new hard rock supergroup Diesel \u2013 formed by Robert Hart (solo\/Bad Company\/Manfred Mann\u2019s Earth Band) and Jim Kirkpatrick (FM), the well-known names in the British rock scene. <\/p>\n

Diesel\u2019s first album \u2013 Into The Fire<\/em> \u2013 is a solid piece of AOR-ish hard rock, with equal focus on catchy melodies and outstanding musicianship. Considering Robert Hart\u2019s musical past, it seems logical that one subconsciously expects some traces of Bad Company\u2019s style in here. Hence, while one\u2019s thirst for catchy hook-lines and dynamic lead guitar work can be quenched with purely melodic rock-oriented tracks (\u201cLove Under Cover\u201d or \u201cBitter & Twisted\u201d), there are also blues-flavored \u201cSo What Is Love\u201d, \u201cWhat You See Ain\u2019t What You Get\u201d or \u201cFortune Favors The Brave\u201d to satisfy the most demanding Bad Co. aficionados. <\/p>\n

And still, there is more to this record: an uptempo catchy rocker \u201cLet\u2019s Take The Long Way Home\u201d or the powerful \u201cTold You So.\u201d The former can be suspected of becoming a future concert favourite among the audience; the latter portrays the band rejecting the \u201cradio-friendliness\u201d quality in favor of some notable instrumental, late \u201870s-like wizardry. Apart from the dynamism of tracks such as these above, or the next to last \u201cSkin And Bone\u201d (which might as well be a lost Turner-era Rainbow outtake), there are also mid-tempos (\u201cStarting Over\u201d), polished and ballad-esque, enriched with soaring guitars. And instead of delivering something particularly exciting for the grand finale, Diesel rather opt for evoking a sudden rush of nostalgia with the mellow final ballad \u201cComing Home.\u201d This mild ending, however, leaves a listener with the overall impression of Into The Fire being cohesive and diverse record and also, a testament to the involved musicians\u2019 abilities and maturity. <\/p>\n

The greatest asset to this material, most probably, is that it portrays the musicians of Diesel as they succeed in striking a balance between the expected homage to musical tradition of their respective past (Bad Company, FM) and the contemporary AOR\/hard rock sound. The result is that their music is neither \u201cdated\u201d, nor modern \u2013 just a compromise between the two. As for the musical performance \u2013 again, the names of these involved in Diesel seem to speak volumes about their impressive musicianship proven years ago in different bands. However, one has to bear in mind that not every supergroup manages to meet the expectations of the hyped-up fans. Diesel certainly does, which makes Into The Fire<\/em> an album recommended for every AOR\/hard rock fan out there.<\/p>\n

Genre: Melodic Hard Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nRobert Hart \u2013 Vocals
\nJim Kirkpatrick \u2013 Guitars, backing vocals, additional keyboards, percussion
\nJimmy Copley \u2013 Drums
\nPat Davey \u2013 Bass.<\/p>\n

Additional musicians:
\nAdam Wakeman \u2013 Keyboards.
\nSteve Overland \u2013 Backing vocals, additional guitars (track 12)
\nAlisdair McKenzie \u2013 horns (track 5)<\/p>\n

Track List:
\n1. Love Under Cover
\n2. Into The Fire
\n3. Starting Over
\n4. Fortune Favors The Brave
\n5. Brand New Day
\n6. Bitter & Twisted
\n7. So What Is Love
\n8. Lets Take The Long Way Home
\n9. Told You So
\n10. What You See Ain’t What You Get
\n11. Skin & Bone
\n12. Coming Home<\/p>\n

Label: Escape Music<\/p>\n

Website: http:\/\/www.escape-music.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 8.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska – Columnist — Were you awe-stricken by any of the W.E.T. releases, or Joe Lynn Turner\u2019s project Sunstorm? Were the classic records of the \u201880s era Rainbow, FM and Foreigner a soundtrack […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":38838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[2317,9037,1016,9038,2847],"class_list":{"0":"post-38837","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-cd-review","9":"tag-diesel","10":"tag-escape-music","11":"tag-into-the-fire","12":"tag-melodic-hard-rock"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}