Vega - 'Grit Your Teeth'

(Frontiers Records)

Never one’s to stand still Vega have always given each of their albums its own feel, with their song writing constantly evolving while always retaining their signature sound at its core. ‘Grit Your Teeth’ shows their most dramatic leap in their evolution, the album title is apt as these songs have a gritter dirtier tone seeing them moving away from the crisp and clean sound that warranted all those Def Leppard comparisons in the past. They still have a big stadium rock vibe with singalong’s aplenty and soaring vocal harmonies, but they have a more alternative tone and show more modern influences.

This album is probably their most varied overall, with some songs still having melodic rock touches and others having a melodic rock/classic rock hybrid sound akin to Gun. Though the guts of the album are very much in that highly melodic alternative rock sound the Americans are so good at so anyone who is a fan of Butch Walker and anything he has touched over the past two decades will be extremely intrigued by this album.

Personally it’s probably the more overtly traditional Vega songs that I enjoy the most like the infectious ‘Don’t Fool Yourself’ but after multiple plays other songs really started to get hold of me, especially ‘(I Don’t Need) Perfection’ which has a great swagger to it and some great lyrics from Nick Workman.

The closing trio is where ‘Grit Your Teeth’ really pushes this album into classic territory for me. ‘Save Me From Myself’ is quite possibly the greatest song they have ever written, I instantly connected with Workman’s lyric and James Martin’s melancholic keyboards are haunting and intense. Sheer perfection. This is then followed by two joyous and uplifting songs in ‘How We Live’ and ‘Done With Me’ which counterbalance the melancholic atmospherics of ‘Save Me From Myself’ perfectly giving the final punch of the album a massive impact – They definitely saved the best ‘til last.

Vega’s previous album ‘Only Human’ was a very deep and introspective album, there is elements of that still present on ‘Grit Your Teeth’ but this album is more about moving on and progression. Rather than focusing on now and evaluating the past, it’s about what comes next – a turn of the page to the next chapter.

Another great album from Vega, a band that never fail to deliver the goods!

10/10

Essential Track - 'Save Me From Myself'

Review by Woody