{"id":18445,"date":"2014-05-23T00:00:48","date_gmt":"2014-05-23T00:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=18445"},"modified":"2014-06-10T20:24:03","modified_gmt":"2014-06-10T20:24:03","slug":"album-review-diesel-into-the-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-diesel-into-the-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"DIESEL &#8211; Into The Fire (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"title2\"><strong>DIESEL<br \/>Into The Fire<\/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;\">Escape Music (2014)<\/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\/2014\/04\/diesel_intothefire.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>It\u2019s fair to say that any album featuring former Bad Company vocalist Robert Hart and FM guitarist Jim Kirkpatrick is going to be worth your time.<\/p>\n<p>Diesel is a brand spanking new British rock band that also features the talents of bassist Pat Davey and drummer Jimmy Copley. And with special guests Adam Wakeman (son of the legendary Rick Wakeman) on keyboards and Steve Overland (FM, Wildlife) on backing vocals, <em>Into The Fire<\/em> boasts one supergroup you can rely on for robust and catchy tunes.<\/p>\n<p>The album opens with the swaggering \u2018Love Under Cover\u2019 which begins with a driving guitar and drum and Robert Hart\u2019s yapping vocal. This is solid, fiery rock with a dash of Hammond organ and enough suaveness to keep you rockin\u2019 until the cows come home. The chorus is simple yet effective, but the track is bolstered by that molten guitar sound which pushes it along at quite a pace.<\/p>\n<p>Diesel fuse AOR with harder-edged melodies beefed up by Hart\u2019s vocal talents. Certainly fans of Bad Company \u2013 after Paul Rodgers first flew the nest \u2013 will lap this up, but there\u2019s enough on offer here to please anyone who likes that no nonsense brand of mid-to-late 80s hard rock. The title track again leads in on a cool solo and Hart\u2019s hushed tones \u2013 the drum is constant, a hurried heartbeat that builds to the pre-chorus strains and then that barked chorus of power and groove-based melody born out of a rushing organ and killer riff.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s fair to say that Diesel opt for consistency throughout, giving the feel of a safe yet sturdy record that is nigh on faultless and jam-packed with monster grooves. The intriguing thing about this album is that despite its simplicity as a hard rock opus and its influences (FM, Bad Company, Rainbow etc.), there is not a trace of the dated. And weirder still, it also defers away from modern dynamics, meaning that <em>Into The Fire<\/em> has a timeless feel about it. The cosier AOR elements of \u2018Starting Over\u2019 walk hand in hand with the harder ingredients which add spice to rockers such as \u2018Bitter &#038; Twisted\u2019, with its powerful vocal and pounding drums.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, there is the 70s-influenced swagger of \u2018Brand New Day\u2019 with its hints of Free, while the uptempo jaunt of \u2018Let\u2019s Take The Long Way Home\u2019 is uplifting as a slice of contemporary AOR. None of us care about the rather basic structures used to make this hard rock opus. This is how rock is meant to be at times \u2013 the sort of music you don\u2019t have to think too much about but instead can just take in wherever you may be.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Told You So\u2019 continues the swagger with its soulful, hip-shaking chorus of tambourine and bouncing organ, but again it\u2019s the guitar of Jim Kirkpatrick which elevates this track above the norm. The funkier strands of \u2018What You See Ain\u2019t What You Get\u2019 slot nicely alongside the <a href=\"\/site\/led-zeppelin-articles\/\" target=\"_blank\">Led Zeppelin<\/a>-ish strut of \u2018Skin &#038; Bone\u2019, while album closer \u2018Coming Home\u2019 is a warm dose of flaky, floating whispered rock. <\/p>\n<p>Diesel mix things up well and throw them all into the fire (excuse the dreary pun!), the result being a warm yet edgy little record that makes for easy listening throughout.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DIESELInto The Fire Escape Music (2014)Rating: 8\/10 It\u2019s fair to say that any album featuring former Bad Company vocalist Robert Hart and FM guitarist Jim Kirkpatrick is going to be worth your time. Diesel is a brand spanking new British rock band that also features the talents of bassist Pat Davey and drummer Jimmy Copley. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1180],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-diesel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18445","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=18445"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18956,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18445\/revisions\/18956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}