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REVIEWS:

BRAVE NEW WORLD - Monsters
Lion Music

Release Date: OUT NOW

by: SCOTT JESLIS www.metalexpressradio.com

Email: scott@metalexpressradio.com

Brave New World (BNW) is a European-based band that actually culminated from a group named Passion Street, which contained Brave New World’s vocalist, Rick Cartey. Passion Street released a debut album and saw some limited success by backing up bands like Peter Frampton, Enuff Z’ Nuff and Aces High. Since then, the band has gone through several personnel changes with Cartey being a consistent member. After so many line-up changes, choosing a new name was inevitable, and Brave New World was born. Monsters represents BNW’s debut release and it certainly has the formula to be a winner.

The musical foundation that Monsters is built on is Melodic Hard Rock, but BNW instill many twists and turns to keep the music from sounding predictable and mundane. Monsters is best categorized as Melodic Hard Rock that is reminiscent of early (Vivid era) Living Colour, mixed in with occasional hints of Saga and Mr. Mister thrown in for diversity. BNW seem to have a knack for throwing in Progressive segues, keyboard jabs, off beat drumming patterns, and voice overdubs to keep the music sounding different and fresh. The edge of the blade is Pat Heath (Vaughn) and his guitar playing, which tends to give the music a heavier versus harder sound.

The album is composed of nine tracks with the opening four representing the highlight tracks. Album opener, “Knife In My Back,” kicks into high gear with an infectious, high energy groove. Here’s where the Living Colour reference comes immediately into play, especially with Cartey’s vocal presentation sounding very similar to Living Colour’s Corey Glover. Throw in some monstrous Heath riffing and a vivid guitar solo, and this one is a clear winner, hands down! “Arabia” is next and is built on a Mid-Eastern feel, with some nice, interesting, almost African drum rolling. It’s the little things like this that keeps BNW’s music interesting. Playle’s keyboards always remain consistently in the background, never too strong, but just loud enough so that his presence can be felt to add the underlying mood. “Strange Days” rides a slower tempo, and begins with some ominous, “chunky” riffing, which only leads the listener into an infectious melodic chorus. Also, interspersed with the riffing is some nice Space Age-sounding keyboard fills. All comes to a head with a sharp, barb-wired Heath guitar solo and ends with a nice Symphonic fade out. “I Want You” is an absolute winner, which opens with some Richard Page-like (Mr. Mister) guitar chords, which take you into a mid-tempo Rocker. Once again, the band keeps things interesting with a progressive Saga-like mid-section, all based around a voice overdub of a stalker on the phone with our damsel in distress, “Grace.” One would be remiss not to mention the amazing rhythm section of Brown, and especially, drummer Folstadl, whose influences obviously include Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater), Neil Peart (Rush), and one of Fusion’s greatest drummers, Dennis Chambers.

Bottom line, Monsters is sort of the “thinking man’s” Melodic Hard Rock, as Brave New World has the ability to introduce those nuances that keep the music sounding interesting, although it’ll take several listens to hear all the “little things” that are going on during each track. The release also represents a nice slab of work by some up-and-coming musicians in guitarist Pat Heath and drummer Tommy Folstadl. Overall, it’s a very impressive start for a band whose personnel changes have hopefully ceased, as all will wait impatiently for a second release!

Line-Up:
Rick Cartey – Vocals
Pat Heath – Guitar
Tommy Folstadl – Drums
Cris J Playle – Keyboards
Stu Brown – Bass

Release Date: November 11, 2005

To find out more about Brave New World visit their label’s Web site at www.LionMusic.com or the band’s own Web site at www.BraveNewWorldMusic.com.

Brave New World - Monsters (Lion Music) By: Joe Florez www.live4metal.com
	Here is one group that I missed. The band started out as a melodic rock outfit called Passion Street and put out a disc in 1995.Well since then, the group have been writing songs and the end result is this debut right here. Some of the songs go back to the mid 90s while in the other group. BNW consist of members from the U.K. and Norway. “Knife In The Back” starts out strong. The guitar work is very reminiscent of Joe Perry from Aerosmith and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. It’s infectious and contains a lot of spiraling riffs that won’t quit. Rick Cartey’s voice comes off like, “Cult Of Personality” era Living Colour. The Corey Gloverish lungs are full of passion and soul. There is also plenty of
funky bass lines to keep the song alive. “Aabia” has a tribal drum intro laced with middle eastern atmosphere and some minor string arrangements. Pat Heath’s solo is just full of life and packs a punch. While the song isn’t as powerful as the opener, it does come to life during the second half in which things get a bit complicated, axe and drum wise. “Strange Days” has a lot of electronic elements and the keyboards come crashing in at times, but the emphasis on melody is starting to come in a lot more here as the disc rolls on. There are still some heavy moments, but they are slowly starting to fade. Bingo! Things begin to shift big time. “I Want You” leads the way with a strong intro that has energetic riffs, but soon takes off into AOR land ala 80‘s style. Even the voice changes a bit. It’s a bit softer and not as packed with conviction as before. Good stuff, but a turn for the lighter side. I would presume this was how Passion Street sounded. “Dreams Never Die” is a ballad which is always inevitable in this genre. There is nothing wrong with it. It’s sincere in performance, but very laid back. After five songs in the form of retro, “(Into The) Age Of Chaos” picks up plenty of steam again with a lot of prog being tossed in, but keeping it under control. This is definitely a first rate performance. I think that in the end, this will somewhat slightly confuse the fans who are new to this. You get three songs that just jump out at ya’ and then the rest just tapers off into another territory. I think that if you follow artists on such labels as Frontiers, AOR Heaven and such, then this will appeal to you. Just start on track four to be safe. The shining star here is Pat’s performance. His finger work is always white hot. www.lionmusic.com \| www.bravenewworldmusic.com

Brave New World
Monsters

It began with Passion Street and after line-up changes, here it is, Brave New World. Pat Heath from Vaughn is part of that band so no need to tell that the guitar work as been well done. Brave New World are playing hard rock and could please to every fans of melodies, good groove and a strong keyboard present but all that into melodic hard rock! A good frontman some great guitar work and of course some catchy parts that you'll remember at the end of the record. The main problem is that fact that with all those rock band is quite hard to break through and I can't say that they pushed the boundaries of rock. THe songs are good but maybe not good enough to make me freak out if you know what I means! Having said that, if you like good guitar solos there's a couple you might want to hear. The strong song 'Arabia' is a good exemple of that.
75%
patrick www.thedarkesthours.com

Brave New World - Monsters

2005 Lion Music

When it comes to musician driven bands, a groove is sometimes hard to come by. Often we overlook this because we immerse ourselves with the awe of the other elements that the music possesses. But it’s nice to see that Brave New World incorporates this feeling of spontaneous soul that is exposed on their latest release ‘Monsters’ which incorporates the vibe of bands such as Animal Bag and Candlebox with melodic metal ala-TNT and Extreme; really putting some diversity into the genre with overtones of funk, blues, and psychedelic textures.

Although not an alt-metal band by any means, Brave New World puts the high standard for groove forth with both ‘Knife in My Back,’ and ‘Walls Come Down;’ a trippy vibe with ‘Arabia;’ as well as putting the full-on metal approach in full-force with ‘I Want You,’ ‘Into the Age of Chaos,’ and ‘All the Heroes’ making ‘Monsters’ more than just any piece of technical metal fodder. In many ways, the recording stands out where many bands seem to often follow a strict approach to simplistic pop songwriting and overtly sophisticated chops, where the music stays straight ahead without taking more interesting detours; that is not the case with Brave New World. These guys have a more spontaneous vibe that is brought forth, and it shows on the record. The put a higher stance and difference for musical marksmanship showing diversity in the metal world; doing it the right way.

Added: November 13th 2005
Reviewer: Tommy Hash www.ytsejam.com
Score:
Related Link: Brave New World Link