{"id":20807,"date":"2014-07-28T00:01:19","date_gmt":"2014-07-28T00:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=20807"},"modified":"2014-07-28T15:03:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-28T15:03:00","slug":"album-review-johnny-touch-inner-city-wolves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-johnny-touch-inner-city-wolves\/","title":{"rendered":"JOHNNY TOUCH – Inner City Wolves (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

JOHNNY TOUCH
Inner City Wolves<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nShadow Kingdom (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Who on earth is Johnny Touch, I hear you bellow? Well, it\u2019s a new one on me too but this Australian band is worth a listen if you like classic heavy metal, and it\u2019s really as simple as that.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s face it. Back in the 80s there wasn\u2019t a band around who wasn\u2019t influenced by Iron Maiden, Metallica, Slayer<\/a>, Black Sabbath<\/a> and Judas Priest, so it\u2019s no surprise then Johnny Touch nod to a few of these on their debut rocker Inner City Wolves<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s another of those albums that sounds like some 80s reissue, with clear driving vocals, steady clinical guitars, a weighty and efficient drum assault and a general feel of traditional rock \u2013 the sort of sound many acts seem to be aiming for today. Indeed, Johnny Touch is one of the more accomplished band of upstarts. Having formed in 2008, this debut full-length opus boasts the talents of vocalist Pahl Hodgson (vocals), Jamie Whyte (guitar), Inphiltraitor (bass) and Denimal (drums). <\/p>\n

Now with so many bands reviving the classic metal sound \u2013 The Dagger being one of the more recent bands that spring to mind \u2013 Johnny Touch are a decent outfit that opt for simple passages and patterns. Flick through any of the eight tracks on offer here and you\u2019ll find tight musicianship that brings forth some excellent melodic strains and good, solid songwriting skills.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing overtly clever about Johnny Touch \u2013 in fact, at times it\u2019s a rather harmless record that struggles to catch fire \u2013 but one cannot scoff at the fine soloing on a track such as \u2018The Metal Embrace\u2019 or the truly shred-tastic opening of \u2018Radiation Axeposure\u2019, with both tracks suggesting a band with some truly stunning potential.<\/p>\n

Where I\u2019m rather unfulfilled however is with the distinct lack of bite; mainly in the vocal department, which could make tracks such as \u2018End Of Daze\u2019 just a touch more sprightly. That\u2019s not to say that Hodgson isn\u2019t good at his job, but his tone is rather standard at times and seems to bring the general sound and weight down with it. With traditional metal bands I expect a more convincing, passionate display in the vocals, and while not every metal frontman of today can be the next Ronnie James Dio (Rainbow, Dio, Black Sabbath) or Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) I\u2019m just left craving something a tad steelier. After all, the music can be quite racy, especially on the driving \u2018Bitch Of A Son\u2019 and my favourite number \u2018Lady Stutter\u2019 \u2013 a seven-minute leviathan that builds in steady fashion to a devilish chug.<\/p>\n

And so, with such sterling guitar work and reasonably healthy drum sound, Johnny Touch does not quite hit the scale when it comes to vocals, or production for that matter, but it\u2019s still a sturdy rock record symbolic of what is right with modern metal that has old school influences.<\/p>\n

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

JOHNNY TOUCHInner City Wolves Shadow Kingdom (2014)Rating: 7\/10 Who on earth is Johnny Touch, I hear you bellow? Well, it\u2019s a new one on me too but this Australian band is worth a listen if you like classic heavy metal, and it\u2019s really as simple as that. Let\u2019s face it. Back in the 80s there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1345],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-johnny-touch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20807","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=20807"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20812,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20807\/revisions\/20812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}