The New Roses

This is my first introduction to this German Hard Rock outfit from the Rheingau, but I would have guessed they were more from the mid-west of America with their brand of Rock. ’Nothing But Wild’ is actually their fourth album, which was released on Friday 2nd August on Napalm Records. Recent support slots with the likes of Kiss, The Dead Daisies, Saxon and the forthcoming Scorpions tour is their type of audience, but also there’s an under-current within their material of the New Country from a few years back, a ‘la the likes of Keith Urban, evident on this album.

Two fine openers in the form of ‘Soundtrack of My Life’, ’Can’t Stop Rock and Roll’ along with the single ‘Down By the River’ kick-start a journey ideal to crank up on your motorway or highway trip, although there’s a break in pace with ‘The Bullet’, a well-crafted Rock ballad. The pace is picked up once again to reach my personal favourite track, ‘Give & Take’, riffing in at track 10, through to the radio friendly ‘Glory Road’ completing this 13-track album. There’s also two acoustic bonus songs revisiting ‘Down By the River’ and ‘Fighting You Leaving Me’.

Depending on your choice of listening, definitely value for money for the Melodic/AOR Rock fan with a collection of faultless performances from Timmy Rough (vocals), Norman Bites (guitar), Hardy (bass) and Urban Berz (drums). Look forward to seeing them when they tour the UK again.

Geoff C.