UNRULY CHILD
"Our Glass House" (Frontiers
Music SRL; 2020)
Reviewed by R. Scott Bolton
I have to confess ... and embarrassingly so ... that "Our Glass House" is my first exposure to Unruly Child, a band that has been around since 1991. Now, I may have heard a track here or there and maybe watched a clip of them on YouTube or something, but, before "Our Glass House," I couldn't have told you a single thing about the band.
Well, this is what I've learned so far: "Our Glass House" is Unruly Child's ninth studio album (if you count 1995's "Tormented" which was apparently released under the name Marcie Free) and the line-up on "Our Glass House" features the "return of the core original members of Marcie Free, Bruce Gowdy, and Guy Allison." The band is apparently best known for its melodic hard rock, which is obvious as you listen to this CD.
What surprised me most about Unruly Child is how much they reminded me of Blue Oyster Cult. It's the same kind of melodic hard rock (both in outstanding musicianship and songwriting ability) and production quality. And that's a good thing. The main difference, I suppose, is that "Our Glass House" is split almost evenly between solid rockers and rock'n'roll ballads. For every rockin' "Poison Ivy" there's a slower-paced "Freedom is a Fight." The good news about that, however, is that even the "ballads" are well-written, guitar-heavy and maintain their hard rock base (with the exception of the final two tracks, newly recorded versions of "Let's Talk About Love" and especially "To Be Your Everything."
But you know me, I'll take the harder rocking stuff. The aforementioned "Poison Ivy," "Say You Want" and (my favorite track), "Everyone Loves You When You're Dead" are the highlights of the album as far as I'm concerned.
As I mentioned above, I don't know enough about Unruly Child to compare this one to previous albums but I can tell you this: "Our Glass House" will have me doing some investigation and checking out the band's previous works, so that tells you something, doesn't it?
Unruly Child: Marcie Free, Bruce Gowdy, Guy
Allison, Jay Schellen, Larry Antonino.
For more information,
check out
http://www.unrulychild.net.
Rating Guide:
A classic. This record will kick your ass.
Killer. Not a classic but it will rock your world.
So-so. You've heard better.
Pretty bad. Might make a nice coaster.
Self explanatory. Just the sight of the
cover makes you wanna hurl.
Copyright ©
2021 by R. Scott Bolton. All rights
reserved.
