Yes, I have no hesitation in giving Walk The Wire the thumbs up, and I’m sure in time this album will become a collectors item.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Walk The Wire
ALBUM: Walk The Wire
LABEL: Megarock
SERIAL: MRRCD 022
YEAR: 1994
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England
LINEUP: Paul Watkins – vocals * Andy Webb – guitars * Nigel Hobbs – keyboards * Mike Barker – bass * Phillip Wilson – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Quadrature * 02 Remember * 03 Nothing To Lose * 04 On The Run * 05 The Knives Are Out Tonight * 06 Stand Up And Fight * 07 Storm Warning * 08 Hold On To Your Dreams * 09 Running From My Heart * 10 Crossfire
Background
Readers of Metal Forces magazine will recognise that Walk The Wire were better known in its demo pages as the band Frozen Heart. Out of the UK, Frozen Heart released a few promising demo’s back in the early 90’s, but nothing to indicate how good this product was going to be. This is storming stuff, and no surprise then that Swedish label Megarock picked them up.
According to the liner notes from the band, this album was ‘recorded in 11 days of total madness’. Of more significance is the undoubted quality produced in such a short space of time. Walk The Wire also brought some credibility back to the melodic hard rock scene coming out of the UK, especially when compared to those bands that were signed to Japanese labels and whom released suspect product. I’m talking about the likes of Midnight Blue, Janstate, Vinci and Vandamne. Quite frankly, I’m not sure what the Japanese saw in that lot.
The Songs
Anyway, Walk The Wire is a pretty rich mix of hard edged guitar and keyboard layers, the latter coming to the fore with the album opener, an instrumental called ‘Quadrature’. I suspect this is a tribute to the Alesis synthesizer released about the same time called the Quadra (only keyboard buffs will know what I mean), with Nigel Hobbs giving it the customary workout.
We then blast into a majestic piece of pomp called ‘Remember’. The bass lines pump along in great fashion, similar to Merv Goldsworthy’s work in FM. ‘Nothing To Lose’, ‘On The Run’ and ‘Storm Warning’ continue the melodic attack with no let up, complete with memorable choruses. Things slow up a bit for a ballad of sorts called ‘The Knives Are Out Tonight’. The other ballad is the near 7 minute tearjerker ‘Running From My Heart’.
Then there’s the shout-a-long chorus of ‘Stand Up And Fight’. The track ‘Hold On To Your Dreams’ has a spatial quality to it, due to the keyboard layers during the verses. This is a great song. The album closer ‘Crossfire’ has a lot of parping keyboards throughout, and is a wonderful way to wrap things up.
In Summary
Yes, I have no hesitation in giving Walk The Wire the thumbs up, and I’m sure in time this album will become a collectors item. For those of you who haven’t got it, do yourself a favour and source this wherever you can.
Walk The Wire on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
