{"id":102761,"date":"2024-03-15T00:00:27","date_gmt":"2024-03-15T00:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=102761"},"modified":"2024-03-27T13:32:37","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T13:32:37","slug":"album-review-aardvark-tough-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-aardvark-tough-love\/","title":{"rendered":"AARDVARK &#8211; Tough Love (2024) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"title2\"><strong>AARDVARK<br \/>Tough Love<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-content\/themes\/metalforces\/images\/spacer.gif\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" height=\"3\" \/><br \/>\n<span class=\"title3\"><span style=\"color: #c80000;\">Dying Victims Productions (2024)<\/span><br \/><strong>Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"image floatedright\">\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-content\/themes\/metalforces\/images\/spacer.gif\" width=\"10\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/aardvark_toughlove.jpg\" height=\"200\" width=\"200\" border=\"0\"><\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<div align=\"left\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>That album cover screams early 80s circa Raven, Shogun etc. and the sound of <em>Tough Love<\/em> wouldn\u2019t seem out of place back then either. The Melbourne, Australia-based quartet formed in 2021 and have certainly done well with this debut full-length outing. The line-up consists of vocalist \/ guitarist Ed Vaark, guitarist Sorcha Wilcox, bassist Danny Smith and drummer Dylan Lieberman.<\/p>\n<p>As albums go this release is obviously influenced by New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, although there are some surprising hints of 70s glam too if you listen closely. \u2018Fire\u2019 brings to mind Kiss but most of what is offered is quite simple and often stark traditional metal with flashes of Iron Maiden streaked with echoes of Thin Lizzy, especially on \u2018Killer\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Aardvark is no stranger to subtlety either as showcased on \u2018Fight Back\u2019, which also boasts a 70s hard rock vibe. Ed Vaark\u2019s vocals are extremely versatile; one moment he delivers a volatile rasp (\u2018Tough Love\u2019), the next he\u2019s not a world away from Paul Stanley of Kiss (\u2018Don\u2019t Call Me A Liar\u2019), but Ed really finds his sweet spot on the more aggressive numbers (\u2018Destructor\u2019).<\/p>\n<p>There are plenty of fine solos, smooth drum rolls and memorable anthems where some of the melodies are quite comfortable operating within the framework of muscular rhythms and even borderline speed metal (\u2018Ankh\u2019). This is music for those with a penchant for handlebar moustaches and black leather waistcoats.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AARDVARKTough Love Dying Victims Productions (2024)Rating: 8\/10 That album cover screams early 80s circa Raven, Shogun etc. and the sound of Tough Love wouldn\u2019t seem out of place back then either. The Melbourne, Australia-based quartet formed in 2021 and have certainly done well with this debut full-length outing. The line-up consists of vocalist \/ guitarist [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5628,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aardvark","category-album-ep-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102761"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102766,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102761\/revisions\/102766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}