British rockers Cage The Gods are carving their sound from the history of rock with their debut album Badlands. Riding bluesy grooves through to sleazy metal, Cage The Gods leave no room for want in this animalistic and vigorous debut inciting guitar thrusts and multiple hair whips.
Opening track ‘Favourite Sin’ bangs the rock and roll nail on the head, pulling every trick out of the bag for the opening track is a daring one but Cage The Gods do not hold back. The track has every hook that you could ask for with contagious lyrics that will have you reaching for the air mic. Next track ‘The Ending’ brings it down a bluesy notch, grooving through into a solo of epic proportions. For a debut Badlands is maturing through each track, with a clear level of production and musicianship that you do not always expect.‘The Ending’ almost feels like it should be signing off the album but we are still only at the beginning.
‘Sacrifice’ continues the level of tracks that stand out on Badlands, riffs whirring and lyrics wildly inclining simultaneously as we come into title track ‘Badlands’. Despite following three epic tracks ‘Badlands‘ just doesn’t have the same impact, but this does not detract from the album, not every track has to be a crowd indulging banger. Whereas ‘Bruce Willis‘ oozes intensity as the track riles up with an added harmonica and all the twangs you could ever need.
Closer ‘From The Start’ grooves on this close structure that hits every spot and closes Badlands with smooth soul to simmer you down from Cage The Gods stellar debut. The album is laden in outstanding musicianship and technical abiltiy, Badlands has some clear crowd inducing singalong tracks as well as the more mature growers. But if this is what is to come from their debut full length can you imagine what Cage The Gods will have for us in their second or third album as they tighten and become more selective?
