{"id":20499,"date":"2014-03-07T00:00:04","date_gmt":"2014-03-07T00:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=20499"},"modified":"2014-07-23T03:30:41","modified_gmt":"2014-07-23T03:30:41","slug":"album-review-woodbridge-the-fire-inside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-woodbridge-the-fire-inside\/","title":{"rendered":"WOODBRIDGE – The Fire Inside (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

WOODBRIDGE
\nThe Fire Inside<\/strong><\/span>
\nSelf-released (2014)<\/span>
\nRating: 4.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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I\u2019m rather sad to say that Swiss rockers Woodbridge tend to live up to their rather bland moniker. Their brand of \u201cvintage rock \u2019n\u2019 roll\u201d is something that lacks edge and fire, in spite of the album title suggesting otherwise.<\/p>\n

Woodbridge features vocalist Dominik Naef, guitarist Remo Cadalbert, bassist Roman Engler and drummer Pascal Kern. They\u2019ve been around for more than five years now, and so I expected more from this nine-track platter.<\/p>\n

In the end, it just offers a set of rather tepid, yet upbeat rockers that begin with the plodding \u2018Born To Rumble\u2019, which has a familiar air about it. The riffs drive hard and the percussion is solid, but the vocals are a tad off-putting as Naef bellows, \u201cCan you feel the thunder? We\u2019re born to rumble. We\u2019re all going under\u201d<\/em>. In its simplicity, it\u2019s rather ineffective.<\/p>\n

Admittedly, I was somewhat surprised by the ballad \u2018Don\u2019t Hold Me Back\u2019 \u2013 which works well with the guest female vocals \u2013 but it seems to come too early in the record, because after this the album fails to maintain that element of flair. As a ballad it\u2019s certainly a scarf-waver, but those vocals of Naef just don\u2019t sit comfortably with me and by the time \u2018Forever Loud\u2019 saunters on in, I\u2019m rarely stirred.<\/p>\n

Again the band attempt something epic, but it falls miserably short as they once again squander any opportunity they have with rather formulaic lyrics and predictable formulas. \u201cForever loud, forever proud\u201d<\/em> Naef groans, but the whole track is bereft of conviction as the album quickly wallows in that standard fare zone and continues its journey into the mediocre realms with the choppy \u2018Four Wheels\u2019 (which is only brightened by the excellent guitar work), the jangly sprightliness of \u2018I Feel Free\u2019, and \u2018Lies\u2019 which drags me deeper into the chambers of dullness.<\/p>\n

The only real highlight of the opus is the strong guitar work of Remo Cadalbert, but other than that, The Fire Inside<\/em> is a debut opus that ambles around as a \u201crock-by-numbers\u201d exhibition. It\u2019s safe and sound but never sassy, and this is because of those rather lukewarm vocal yawns and standard melodies which try so desperately to hip-shake but only do so with the half-decent strut of \u2018Life\u2019s Hot\u2019, which, again \u2013 despite a strong melody \u2013 is let down by a vocal delivery that by this point begins to grate.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m guessing that Woodbridge set out to play basic, ballsy vintage rock but to deliver the message the band really does need to go up another two gears, because with \u2018Lost In Paradise\u2019 and the atrocious \u2018Next Drink (Is On Me)\u2019 the combo lack the creativity and bite. The latter of these numbers sounds like something R.E.M. would come up with and believe me, I do not<\/em> like R.E.M.<\/p>\n

The Fire Inside<\/em> is about as a flat as a pancake, and the band is in desperate need of energy.<\/p>\n

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

WOODBRIDGE The Fire Inside Self-released (2014) Rating: 4.5\/10 I\u2019m rather sad to say that Swiss rockers Woodbridge tend to live up to their rather bland moniker. Their brand of \u201cvintage rock \u2019n\u2019 roll\u201d is something that lacks edge and fire, in spite of the album title suggesting otherwise. Woodbridge features vocalist Dominik Naef, guitarist Remo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1331],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-woodbridge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20499","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=20499"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20506,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20499\/revisions\/20506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}