{"id":19434,"date":"2014-06-27T00:00:44","date_gmt":"2014-06-27T00:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=19434"},"modified":"2014-07-01T17:23:05","modified_gmt":"2014-07-01T17:23:05","slug":"album-review-the-megs-awakening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-the-megs-awakening\/","title":{"rendered":"THE MEGS – Awakening (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE MEGS
Awakening<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nPure Steel (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 5.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Megs is a rather peculiarly named hard rock band from Italy. Awakening<\/em> is the quartet\u2019s third release, following on from 2011\u2019s Jealousy<\/em> and 2013\u2019s Start<\/em> EP. The Megs are fronted by vocalist \/ bassist Federico Travaglia, who is joined by guitarists David Visin and Mattia Aldibeck, and drummer Manuel Mormina.<\/p>\n

The press release for Awakening<\/em> mentions that the band \u201cdoes not sound like many others\u201d, but that if they had to be compared to any band, then it would be Danish rockers D.A.D. I can\u2019t personally fathom the comparison to be honest, but I do agree that The Megs aren\u2019t your routine hard rock band; as soon as \u2018What I Would Like\u2019 begins with its sweeping orchestration and then jabbing guitar, I\u2019m at a loss to explain who they sound like. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not because The Megs are so befuddling or unusual that a comparison fails to come to mind. It\u2019s just that with the trundling bass and Travaglia\u2019s distinctly European slur plus a pop edge, this probably has more in common with the judder of Queens Of The Stone Age musically \u2013 either way, it\u2019s straight up rock \u2019n\u2019 roll but just played from a different angle. <\/p>\n

The songs are catchy \u2013 I refer back to that upbeat opener \u2013 but although \u2018Follow The White Rabbit\u2019 has a stirring opening guitar and strong drum plod, it\u2019s nothing mind-blowing. The Megs are an energetic rock band bereft of thrills to be honest, but they certainly give it their best shot and harbour a commercial edge that should gain the band a new set of fans quickly. <\/p>\n

\u2018Follow The White Rabbit\u2019 is a touch more \u201cindie\u201d than heavy rock, \u2018Rain Of Sand\u2019 is a cheerful, jangly bubblegum pop number, and \u2018My Time\u2019 is equally danceable material \u2013 the sort of track one could imagine hearing in \u201cindie\u201d clubs across Britain. In fact, I\u2019m unsure if the band really classes itself as metal. The label Pure Steel is certainly misleading with its moniker, because as is proven with the whispered trudge of \u2018Apache\u2019 or the fiery \u2018Ink Flower\u2019, this is more of a rock album than a metal album. <\/p>\n

There are a few sturdier numbers, however; \u2018Blackout\u2019 is an all-out rocker with a ballsy drum kick and infectious solo, while \u2018Govern Is To Believe\u2019 is another high-octane foot tapper. Oddly though, the more I listen to this the more British it sounds in its framework; if it wasn\u2019t for Travaglia\u2019s vocals, I\u2019d have thought that this slab had been released at some point in the UK in the late 90s.<\/p>\n

Sadly, Awakening<\/em> doesn\u2019t boast enough big songs to succeed as a hard rock album. Instead, it\u2019s all rather bland from start to finish, despite the clear passion of the group.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE MEGSAwakening Pure Steel (2014)Rating: 5.5\/10 The Megs is a rather peculiarly named hard rock band from Italy. Awakening is the quartet\u2019s third release, following on from 2011\u2019s Jealousy and 2013\u2019s Start EP. The Megs are fronted by vocalist \/ bassist Federico Travaglia, who is joined by guitarists David Visin and Mattia Aldibeck, and drummer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1276],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-the-megs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19434","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=19434"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19437,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19434\/revisions\/19437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}