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Feed The Machine lp
No Connection |
 Even if you were watching this band in a smoky backstreet pub with a name like The Curious Badger, you could close your eyes and let the sounds convince you that you’re at a stadium rock show - complete with pyrotechnics, belly dancers in cages and the odd dwarf dressed as Satan. The Reading trio drive a classic rock open-topped tour bus that stops at Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Def Leppard and pretty much everything in between. But although the band wear their influences on their (probably leather) sleeves, each of the 12 tunes on ‘Feed the Machine’ is shot through with 21st century fun, fizz and firepower.
From the throbbing Rainbow chords of the title track and the rolling Judas Priest thunder of “Burnin” to the machine gun riffs of “Don’t Need Your Love” and “Got Your Number,” No Connection play it loud, hard and with plenty of colour. It’s familiar territory, sure, but the hooks are good enough to make every track dazzle as much as anything by The Datsuns or Jet. “Take It From Me” buzzes with the short, sharp immediacy of AC/DC and “Right Place, Wrong Time” plays a fat bassline off against some brilliantly skewed Jimmy Page riffage. Meanwhile “God & I” belongs to drummer Jon Hill. As the title infers, there’s the suggestion of The Almighty taking you on at 10-pin bowling as Jon’s all-conquering rumble plays host to stratchy six-string and snotty Faith No More panache.
Throughout, frontman Graham Young doesn’t give an inch with his grizzled Ronnie James Dio sneer. And when the band momentarily change course with the fuzzed-up luscious ‘70s soul of “Beautiful” or the recklessly scrappy indie rock of “Already Gone,” the vocal loses none of its power. He sees to it that slow-burning rocker “If Only (You Felt Like I Do)” escalates to “Purple Rain” proportions, while the sly country vibe of “Love The Illusion” becomes the kind of tune Lynard Skynard might have crafted had they accidentally wandered into a Franz Ferdinand set.
“Pity The Fool” is another track that sees the band not break the mould, but bend it with Uri Gellar deftness. Its free-flowing electric folk and hypnotic harmonies are a step away from the hairy-chested metal bravado of much of the album. But the energy, power and, of course, that voice make it clear that this is an alternative, not a compromise. No Connection breath new life into the grand tradition of rock music; but they’re also smart enough to realise that it doesn’t hurt to step out of your spandex once in a while.
by overplay |
 Visit No Connection page |
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