This album from Norway’s Big City is solid without hitting all the KPI’s you’d expect to hear from bands playing this style.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Big City
ALBUM: Big City Life
LABEL: Rock Of Angels Records (ROAR)
SERIAL: ROAR1807DCD
YEAR: 2018
CD INFO: Discogs Info
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Norway
LINEUP: Jan Le Brandt – vocals * Daniel Olaisen – guitars * Frank Orland – guitars * Miguel Pereira – bass * Frank Nordeng Roe – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Big City Life * 02 Cryin? In The Night * 03 Daemon In The Dark * 04 Rocket Man * 05 Stars Surrounding * 06 From This Day * 07 Running For Your Life * 08 Forgive Me Now * 09 Tower Of Babylon * 10 Home Again
RATING: 70/100
WEBLINKS: NA
Background
This Norwegian band have been around for a few years but have struggled to generate a buzz in the melodic rock scene like a few other bands have managed to do. That’s a shame really as these guys sound very good and have got some solid material under their belt already.
If we go back to 2013, this is the first time Big City flew across my radar. They released their first album ‘Wintersleep’ as a digital only issue back then and strangely, we didn’t review it. As Danny Wilde once sung, ‘it wouldn’t be the first time’. So we’ll make up for it with this their second release.
The Songs
Now signed to Greek label Rock Of Angels Records, ROAR have packaged both this new one and the previous ‘Wintersleep’ together as a 2 for 1 bundle. Good work chaps! In this article we’ll focus on the new one. Ten tracks, mostly written by guitarist Daniel Olaisen, who has played in a number of Norwegian metal bands previously. The others too come from metal and prog metal bands, including one we’ve reviewed before: Withem.
Musically Big City sound like former Swedes Platitude but without the keyboards. This is particularly evident with the lead vocals. The delivery is good throughout, but something didn’t quite stick. The tracks which stood out for me were the faster tempo ones such as ‘Rocket Man’ and ‘Running For Your Life’, the others less so. They do break it up with a couple of melodic ballads and heavier excursions, but all throughout I was looking for the wow factor, which never quite arrived.
In Summary
Big City’s album overall is solid without hitting all the KPI’s you’d expect to hear from bands playing this style. We’ve seen a few heavier bands switch allegiance to melodic hard rock, but I can’t definitively say if there have been any success stories so far. On that one, the jury is still out, though I’m all up for any suggestions.
Video
Running For Your Life
