{"id":22647,"date":"2014-10-24T00:00:43","date_gmt":"2014-10-24T00:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=22647"},"modified":"2014-12-20T12:43:18","modified_gmt":"2014-12-20T12:43:18","slug":"album-review-house-of-x-house-of-x","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-house-of-x-house-of-x\/","title":{"rendered":"HOUSE OF X – House Of X (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSE OF X
House Of X<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nEscape Music (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

House Of X \u2013 formerly known as X-UFO \u2013 is a British posse consisting of Danny Peyronel (lead vocals; ex-UFO, ex-Heavy Metal Kids), Laurence Archer (guitar \/ backing vocals; ex-Phil Lynott\u2019s Grand Slam, ex-UFO, ex-Stampede), Rocky Newton (bass \/ backing vocals; ex-Lionheart, ex-MSG) and Clive Edwards (drums; ex-UFO, ex-Wild Horses, ex-Lionheart). So as one can see by the experience of those musicians named, this was always going to be a groove-based winner.<\/p>\n

For fans of deep, soulful and catchy melodic hard rock then look no further than this 12-track affair. Expressive vocals, engaging tempo shifts, evocative riffage and classy musicianship all round is what this is all about.<\/p>\n

I was immediately turned onto this record after hearing the superb \u2018Martian Landscape\u2019 which props up the mid-section of this engrossing opus. For me, with its opening riff, House Of X somehow reminds me of a latter day Black Sabbath<\/a> as the Birmingham titans marched their way through the 90s. The riffs roll like some oily serpent cavorting in the frothing waves before the powerful vocals make their way through the foam. However, as the vocals rise there is an almost cosmic passion about this glorious track with its vague doomy plays and hints on traditional yet soulful heavy rock.<\/p>\n

And this down-to-earth sprig spatters what turns out to be a fantastic, embryonic hard rock record. The album opens with the excellent and instantly memorable \u2018Do Me Wrong\u2019, which sounds as if it was recorded around the early 80s such is its nature to exhibit silky, yet driving vocals and that almost funky guitar edge. I\u2019m almost intrigued by the brief slo-mo (intentional?) take on Guns N\u2019 Roses\u2019 \u2018Sweet Child O\u2019 Mine\u2019 as Danny Peyronel barks \u201cwhere do we go now?\u201d, but for the most part it\u2019s just a robust, mid-tempo bruiser which takes us to the hastier \u2018No More Tequila\u2019 with its bubbling bass and Edwards\u2019 persistent drum plod. I\u2019m hearing Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin<\/a>, The Sweet, Saxon, and in fact just about every great British band here \u2013 House Of X keeping it simple yet so damn catchy throughout, fusing some killer leads with shuffling boogie rock.<\/p>\n

The hip-shaking swagger of \u2018Long Arm Of The Law\u2019 is equally potent with its snappy rhythms, while \u2018No Way Home\u2019 has more of a simmer in its groove, hinting at Whitesnake. And those cool, sassy riffs just keep on rolling into the ears as the rock \u2018n\u2019 roll beat of \u2018The Road Less Troubled\u2019 comes sweeping across the sweaty dance floor leaving a trail of fire. My personal favourite though is \u2018Alive\u2019, which regains that darker edge with its slow building beginning and Peyronel\u2019s effortless, yet almost whispering rasp. \u2018Busted\u2019 is another classy rocker, driving straight to the hilt like a bullet to the ears, while \u2018House Of Lies\u2019 boasts another sizzling riff.<\/p>\n

As debut platters go, House Of X<\/em> is somewhat modest, but this is a band that are very confident in its own talent and more than happy to let the music do the talking instead of relying on gimmicks. This is a very good hard rockin\u2019 album for which the word \u201csteady\u201d was made, and while the guys may not thank me for such an unrewarding word it\u2019s simply a testament as to how rigidly consistent this composition is, and it\u2019s one that rarely detracts from its path and rarely falters either.<\/p>\n

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

HOUSE OF XHouse Of X Escape Music (2014)Rating: 8\/10 House Of X \u2013 formerly known as X-UFO \u2013 is a British posse consisting of Danny Peyronel (lead vocals; ex-UFO, ex-Heavy Metal Kids), Laurence Archer (guitar \/ backing vocals; ex-Phil Lynott\u2019s Grand Slam, ex-UFO, ex-Stampede), Rocky Newton (bass \/ backing vocals; ex-Lionheart, ex-MSG) and Clive Edwards […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1523],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-house-of-x"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22647","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=22647"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22650,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22647\/revisions\/22650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}