The Steel - 'The Steel II'

(Wanikiya Records)

Italian’s The Steel have a long musical legacy dating way back to the late seventies, but what they have created with their second album under this moniker has a surprisingly up to date musical vibe. I’d class this album as Modern Hard Rock, which given the roots and longevity of the musicians involved wasn’t what I was expecting when I first gave this album a spin.

I was also expecting something with strong European flavours and styles but the Steel are heavily influenced by American bands. There are really strong Alt-Rock vibes to their sound, with pounding bass lines and discordant guitar licks. At Times they remind me of bands like Creed and Cold and others who emerged in the post grunge wave of American Hard Rock.

Musically the songs are quite downbeat with deep vocals and some obvious grunge influences in the guitars – think Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. That said the song influences do diversify as the album progresses with Funky bass lines and more classic rock driven songs appearing along the way. It really does add some shade and light to the album which makes it a very intriguing listen. I do wonder if some of these songs were pulled from different song writing periods given the diversity of influences in the song writing.

Although I’m sure most people will not have clue who The Steel are, they are not an amateur outfit in the slightest. It’s well produced, with some excellent musicianship on display and some great songs. That said though the album just doesn’t jump out as much as it needs to truly make an impact, it’s not a bad album in the slightest just a bit average and middle of the road. There are other similar sounding albums out there which would easily overshadow this one.

The ballad ‘Until The End Of the World’ has a very melodic chorus which does set it apart from the rest of the album but the track to hunt down is ‘Open Your Heart’ which has an old school melodic hard rock swagger to it, but is not representative of the album in its entirety.

If you like the style of rock that The Steel create you will enjoy it but even within this subgenre’s stratosphere its not going to set the world aflame. Its regularly downbeat nature may put of casual fans and to be fair its not an instant album, radio friendly is not a tag this album will garner.

6/10

Essential Track - 'Open Your Heart'

Review by Woody