Review: Animal Drive – ‘Bite!’

ere’s a song for ya…”, but then it steamrollers into a bass-heavy, crushing riff-fest of a track that doesn’t forget the all important hooks. Pair this with a pounding bass drum display from Adrian Boric, and it makes for the perfect album opener. Jelusic has a powerful set of pipes on him, and it’s easy to see why O’Neill and Soto were so impressed. He might still get asked for ID in his local boozer, but he can sing. ‘Tower Of Lies (I Walk Alone)’ is a perfect slice of modern hard rock fraternising with metal, whereas ‘Had Enough’ goes the whole hog and puts out. It’s catchy enough to have metalheads singing along sneakily, and not so heavy that people will turn off. With a title like ‘Hands Of Time’, you know what you are going to get… a slow-burning arena anthem that builds to a towering chorus, evoking many memories of both Eric Martin and David Coverdale. Even on the heavier moments, like ‘Lights Of The Damned’, ‘Time Machine’ and the stonking ‘Devil Took My Beer Again’, Jelusic doesn’t forget about the melodies or the hooks. He knows what makes a song tick, and every component works in perfect unison with the others. Throw in a chunky Hammond organ and Rival Sons-sized fuzzy riffs on the latter, and the end result is very memorable. I could live without the keyboard intro on ‘Deliver Me’ though. It’s a minor grumble that doesn’t harm the album at all, I’m just not a fan. Where are the ballads? Well that would be ‘Father’ and ‘Carry On’ then… heartfelt and memorable, without being a cheese-fest. It makes a pleasant change for Croatia to be in the foreground for something other than Game Of Thrones sets, and the guys from Zagreb have produced a debut album of stunning quality. Available now through Frontiers Music. More information here. Review: Dave]]>

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