Tempt are a very good young band in the vein of fellow Americans Station, and from a pure hard rock perspective, these two bands are leading the way in the US of A.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Tempt
ALBUM: Runaway
LABEL: Rock Candy Records
SERIAL: CANDYMAN 005
YEAR: 2016
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Zach Allen – vocals * Harrison Marchello – guitar, keyboards, vocals * Max McDonald – bass * Nicholas Burrows – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Comin’ On To You * 02 Under My Skin * 03 Paralyzed * 04 Use It Or Lose It * 05 Runaway * 06 Aamina * 07 Sapphire * 08 The Fight * 09 What Is Love * 10 Time Won’t Heal * 11 Love Terminator * 12 Fucked Up Beautiful * 13 Neuro-Child * 14 Dirty One * 15 Aamina MW mix
RATING: 90/100
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
It’s an unusual move for reissue label Rock Candy Records to invest in a newish band such as New York’s Tempt. But that they have.Since May, when news started filtering through that this quartet were picked up, we’ve seen an assortment of news snippets, Facebook items and video clips featuring the band. Ah, nice to know that social media is in full swing.
The CD was released a few days ago, and notorious download blog Zero Day already has a free download featured on their site. And you wonder why bands/artists are up in arms.
The Songs
Though the band are very young, they treat us with fifteen tracks. Probably a touch too many, and what they deliver is encouraging from what is essentially a bunch of kids. They won’t score high marks for originality, but in this sub-genre it’s all about familiarity, and on that card, they score the maximum.
No doubt, Def Leppard, Whitesnake and a few other 80’s heroes are Tempt’s big calling here, but the real comparison is made with White Lion, as singer Zach Allen really has that Mike Tramp thing happening big time, though from what I understand, Steve Tyler is Zach’s main influence.
Guitarist Harrison Marchello is a big talent, and you see his many You Tube clips up online. Probably Derek Oliver had a good geek at these before realising Tempt would make a solid acquisition for the label. Excellent call I reckon. Harrison has probably listened to ‘Hysteria’ more often that not, judging by the arrangements and Lepp like production values filtering through.
Highlights include the aggressive riffing of ‘Sapphire’ with a nice synth backdrop, the rock anthem ‘What Is Love’ that could’ve been Danger Danger in another era, or the pairing of ‘Comin’ Onto You’ and ‘Paralysed’. Tempt have a bunch of these songs up on You Tube, so you check these out before making a decision to buy this CD.
In Summary
I’m still giving this a listen as I’m reviewing it, and it’s very enjoyable as an 80’s styled retread. We’re all big supporters of Rock Candy Records as it is, and as this is not a reissue, debates about production values are pushed to the far corner. It’s not really up for discussion. A very good young band in the vein of fellow Americans Station, and from a pure hard rock perspective, these two bands are leading the way in the US of A.
Tempt on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
