ABOUT US Album Review: “About Us”

ABOUT US
“About Us”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

About Us are a hard rock band from India formed in 2019, releasing their self titled debut album in 2022.

Recognized worldwide for its culture and cuisine, landscapes and languages, classical dances and the Bollywood film industry, India are now lighting up the world in the arena of hard rock. Hailing from Nagaland, in the north-eastern region of India, About Us are a six-piece rock band, releasing their explosive self titled debut album worldwide via Frontiers Music. Ten songs across forty five hard rocking minutes will garner comparisons with bands such as Journey, Foreigner, and Whitesnake. Take album opener ‘Right Now’ for example – and tell me that it’s not reminiscent of classic eighties AOR? I know right! ‘Right Now’ is infectious and an immediate like – and to be honest, if you didn’t already know, you’d swear the band was from America…arguably the home of AOR.

Without dropping the breathless atmosphere of the opening song, About Us storm on with the hard hitting ‘Gimme Gimme’, and a touch of the Southern rock drawl. Think Aerosmith and you’ll have some idea of the direction the band are moving in here. Highly melodic and catchy to the max, ‘Gimme, Gimme’ has the most sing a long-able chorus you could ever ask for. Fans of the great AOR bands such as Asia, Boston, Foreigner, Journey, Kansas and REO Speedwagon are gonna go crazy for About Us – the band picking up the pace and cruising by with the heavier foot tapper ‘Lead My Heart’. The sing along ability of the opening treble has been splendid, the infectious level off the charts, and the smile ability absolutely terrific. Maybe for your next party, you can use this album as the soundtrack – it’ll definitely keep the party going strong well into the night! Especially with thundering songs such as ‘Our Fairyland’ emanating everything great about a driving anthem. Just imagine a drive in the country on a summers afternoon, windows down, with About Us blasting outta the stereo – heaven is a place on Earth and that place is right here, right now, listening to ‘About Us’!

Breath taking is just one of many ways I can describe the debut album from About Us, the band rocking on with the more mellow ‘Loaded Love’ – with the smell of a power ballad filling the air. Released as the bands first single, ‘Loaded Love’ may be a tad too heavy to be classed as a pure ballad, reminding me of the legendary Whitesnake and their eighties top ten hit ‘Is This Love’. Just incredible. Heavying things up and moving toward the heavy metal genre, the band hit hard with ‘Rock On Top’ – the band stopping one step short of stepping over the fence into metal territory. The energy and oomph of the album since it began has been phenomenal, and certainly shows no sign of falling away – if anything, it’s just getting stronger and stronger! Staying at the heavier end of the rock genre, ‘Rise’ is a thumping heavy rocker that’ll knock you flat on your back – and then stamp on you to make sure you stay down! The hard rocking attitude from this Indian six-piece is sublime, the album full of tunes you’ll wanna listen to time and time again.

The albums atmosphere of breathlessness is insatiable, the band changing direction with the heaviest song heard so far – ‘Golden Troops’ hitting hard like a mid nineties Skid Row or Motley Crue. You know the time…when many hard rock bands began to incorporate the burgeoning grunge movement, just to stay relevant! Personally, I think they should have stayed strong to their rock roots, and killed off grunge. About Us exploring the grunge come alternative metal sound with ‘Golden Troops’, and doing a great job it has to be said. And now for a pure ballad – ‘Open Your Heart’ a classic lighters in the air moment, with every listener, fan and follower swaying from side to side. The atmosphere of serenity coupled with mellow overtones is gorgeous, creating a powerful sound that keeps you hooked until the very last second. The final song on the album ‘Love And Affection’ is another hard rocking driving anthem, full of energy and oomph, keeping alive the iconic spirit of eighties AOR. About Us have delivered one helluva magical album – definitely one of the biggest surprises of the year.

Overall, a hard rocking and infectious album of melodic hard rock and AOR, packed to the rafters with smile inducing party anthems.

TRACKLIST

Right Now
Gimme Gimme
Lead My Heart
Our Fairyland
Loaded Love
Rock On Top
Rise
Golden Troops
Open Your Heart
Love And Affection (bonus)

https://www.facebook.com/AboutUsNagaland

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