Simon RushworthMassive Wagons — Earth To Grace (Earache)
When Barry Mills received the final mix of current single Sleep Forever he simply couldn’t stop playing Earth To Grace’s meaty opener.
It’s not because Massive Wagons’ frontman is some kind of narcissistic nutjob who loves nothing better than giving himself an almighty pat on the back.
He’s not so far up his own arse that he can’t see past his own brilliant work.
And it’s not like the pint-sized pocket rocket is the most immodest man you’ll ever meet — quite the opposite.
Baz blasted out Sleep Forever at least 10 times that day because he loves bloody good guitar music.
And if he wasn’t in the band he’d be a fan of this band.
You see, Massive Wagons have stealthily morphed into every rocker’s modern day, dream unit.
Earth To Grace sees the crazy worlds of 70s heavy blues and 80s pop rock collide — creating a spectacular explosion of genre-fluid melodies and fist-pumping calls-to-arms.
What Mills loved most about Sleep Forever, by the way, was its ‘huge riffs and gnarly guitars’ and here’s the thing: Adam Thistlethwaite and Stevie Holl own this smart as denim smasher of an album.
Have they been listening to lots of Def Leppard lately? Absolutely.
Might mid-80s Marillion be a reference point on songs like Night Skies? Maybe.
Are those ‘gnarly guitars’ rooted in the riffs of ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke, Ritchie Blackmore and KK Downing? Sounds like it.
‘ThistHollthwaite’ have buried their heads deep within heavy rock’s history books and emerged to write the genre’s most compelling chapter in decades.
They put the ‘Massive’ into Massive Wagons. And Mills does the rest.
Massive respect as the Wagons roll on
Fifteen years in and Lancaster’s finest never sounded so good.
No, really.
Thought House Of Noise was the foundation for world domination? Think again.
Convinced yourself Mills and co. couldn’t top Triggered!. How foolish do you look now?
Turns out both of those barnstormers were, in truth, merely the tentative steps towards Earth To Grace’s titanium-plated perfection.
This record roars with ambition, revels in a steely sense of self-confidence and sets the standard for all those starry-eyed NWOCR wannabes.
And producer Matt O’Grady (You Me At Six, Architects, Don Broco) deserves immense credit for capturing Wagons at their bouldering best.
Mills benefits from a sharpness of tone that ensures those compelling narratives pierce the consciousness like never before.
O’Grady recognises the value-added thrust of the band’s relentless twin-axe attack.
And he hands bassist Adam ‘Bowzer’ Bouskill and drummer Alex Thistlethwaite the keys to power — Wagons’ rhythm section ripping through the 11 tracks here.
The singles culled from Earth To Grace prior to release already gave the game away.
We knew Wagons’ seventh long player was going to be special.
But crackers like Cool Like A Fox and Fun While It Lasted add illuminating layers to a shiny body of work.
Twelve years after we first heard Fight The System, Massive Wagons have made a record the whole world needs to hear.
Earth To Grace is on another planet.
