EARTH LUX
“Earth Lux”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

9/10

Earth Lux are a hard rock band based in France founded in 2023 by French composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Steph Honde along with Brazilian composer and drummer Fred Mika – the band line-up completed by bass player Michael Voss (Wolfpakk, ex Mad Max), vocalist Mark Boals (Ring Of Fire, Dramatica) and keyboard player Steve Mann (Lionheart). The bands self titled debut album was released in 2024…

…featuring eleven songs across a fifty five minute run time! That’s fifty five minutes of modern day hard rock driven by seventies nostalgia and a mighty Southern rock kick – the album opening with the heavy hitter ‘Shine On Me’. The bombastic barrage right from the off is head turning, every listener everywhere stopping what ever it is they’re doing in order to focus all their attentions on the sultry music flowing into their ears – music that’s rocking hard with an immense “listen to me” attitude! And listen you will, for Earth Lux’s brand of hard rock is all conquering – ‘Soul Stalker’ picking up the baton from ‘Shine On Me’, striding forward with increased majesty and pulling even more listeners into the bands soundscape.

The pull of the band is magnetic, Earth Lux quite possibly the latest supergroup to grace the world of rock – ’cause the widely recognised definition of a supergroup is “a group formed by musicians already famous from playing in other groups”. ‘Earth Lux’ marches on with the more melodic ‘In Your Heart’, a smoother style of rock descending upon the album, a style of rock that’s highly reminiscent of the eighties and early nineties, fans old and new, and young, finding something among the albums first three songs to feed their thirst – a thirst that hungers for more! And more the band give by way of the heavy foot stomping ‘Back Stage Business’, which also features a weighty punch to take your breath away! Yet tucked inside all the hardness on show, is a marvellous melodious streak that keeps a tight grip on every listener everywhere, the band not prepared to let go just yet! And maintaining a fabulous eighties feel, maybe seventies, I can’t quite decide, but then in my defence I was only ten years old at the start of the eighties, listening to my parents music before rebelling by venturing into the rock and metal world! But back to the matter in hand, ‘Silent Cry Screamer’ displays a massive seventies, maybe eighties feel, the elegant rock swagger the album began with simply getting better and better!

And with a more mellow approach than any other song heard so far, ‘What A Day, What A Life’ glides in on the crest of balladry, an air of serenity draping itself around the album, the band inviting every listener, fan and follower to raise lighters high in the air – which of course you can do, but methinks the band are keeping a toe just outside ballad territory, ‘What A Day, What A Life’ only ninety-nine percent balladry! ‘Kyrie Eleison’ – a Greek phrase that means “Lord have mercy” – returns the punchy crunch heard earlier, this time a definite seventies rock swagger pours outta the album! And I don’t think it’s Earth Lux’s primary intention to be a retro band, there’s plenty of modern day touches littered all over the album to remain fresh and inviting to a younger generation, it’s just that you have one of the elder generation sat here who remembers the seventies and eighties fairly well! Yet you ask me what I did yesterday and I’ll have to think about it for a moment, the displeasures of advancing old age you see! But then along comes a band like Earth Lux and all my “old age” issues disappear for a bit and I get to enjoy some sparkling hard rock that reminds me of when I was young – ‘Stormy Tower’ lifting the lid off the rock pot to allow an infectious arena rock roar to roam free! 

A roar that lands back in the old days with ‘That Room’, a touch of classic rock gently caressing the bands sound to attract an even wider (and most likely older) audience than ever – the rock rollercoaster still in full swing as the final two songs start to come around the corner, the first of which ‘Paths Of Infinity’, features a punchy party rock feel – a party rock feel that’s not been heard before, Earth Lux pushing their musical boundaries further and further. And so to the last song ‘Lorraine’, clocking in at seven and a half minutes in length to become the longest song on offer, returning ‘Earth Lux’ to ballad territory – the reined in power bursting to be set free! So go ahead and raise your lighters once more, and enjoy the albums closing amble.

Overall, a mesmerising march of infectious hard rock featuring a colossal seventies, early eighties sound and feel.

TRACKLIST

Shine On Me
Soul Stalker
In Your Heart
Back Stage Business
Silent Cry Screamer
What A Day, What A Life
Kyrie Eleison
Stormy Tower
That Room
Paths Of Infinity
Lorraine

https://www.facebook.com/earthluxofficial

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