Come April 2022, Northern Irish band Silent Running return with their fourth studio album ‘Follow The Light’ on their own label Door.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Silent Running
ALBUM: Follow The Light
LABEL: Door
SERIAL: NA
YEAR: 2022
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: 
LINEUP: Peter Gamble – lead vocals, acoustic guitar * Tony Scott – guitars, backing vocals * Richard Collett – bass, backing vocals * Paul Rocks – keyboards, acoustic guitar, backing vocals * Gary Kirby – drums, drum programming, percussion, backing vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 Live Right Now * 02 Darkest Hour * 03 Beyond Your Wildest Dreams * 04 Follow The Light * 05 Love Is A Bloodsport * 06 Golden Days * 07 Swansong * 08 Shadowland * 09 Lost Boy * 10 Wildfire * 11 Tonight This World Belongs To Me
RATING: 
Background
During the 80’s I was quite partial to a Northern Ireland band from Belfast called Silent Running. In particular their 1987 and 1989 albums’ Walk On Fire’ and ‘Deep’. At the time, their sound was a mix of Simple Minds, The Outfield and INXS. An intriguing mix which became more melodic as time went on, considering their roots started out as a punk band.
In the 21st century after decades away, the band (personnel intact from the 80’s) started releasing material again from 2019 onwards, with a series of singles plus a private edition live CDR called ‘Live At Voodoo’ recorded in Nov 2019 at the Voodoo Nightclub in Belfast, but released in March 2020. Come April 2022, Silent Running return with their fourth studio album ‘Follow The Light’ on their own label Door.
The Songs
‘Live Right Now’ is a vibrant opener with a pulsing synth pattern, plus some passionate vocals from Peter Gamble. ‘Darkest Hour’ is also a bright rocker despite what the song title says, a good pair of tracks to get us started. With crisp drums to lead off, ‘Beyond Your Wildest Dreams’ is a sonic reminder of this bands 80’s heroics. ‘Follow The Light’ is a jangly melodic affair similar to Norwegian band On The Rise. Very pleasant.
‘Golden Days’ is another acoustic tune that contains several rays of sunshine, following in a similar vein is the equally catchy ‘Swansong’, this should appeal to fans of lite melodic rock. For something a touch heavier and grittier, ‘Shadowland’ is the end result. Pretty good. ‘Wildfire’ lifts the tempo noticeably, a hard rocker in the truest sense. The album concludes with the organic ‘Tonight This World Belongs To Me’, a likeable roots rocker which touches on those bands we mentioned above.
In Summary
It’s good to see the band back in the saddle once more, my assumption is that the album was a pent-up release of creativity, and judging by the sound of it, they appear to have retained all their musical nous and chops over the intervening years. Let’s hope this is not a one off.
Video
Darkest Hour
Follow The Light (Live)
belongs to GDMonline.info copyright.
Duplication elsewhere on the Internet is strictly prohibited
unless specific permission is granted.
Internal Link:
Edit User Profile
