GIRISH AND THE CHRONICLES
“Hail To The Heroes”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

Girish And The Chronicles are a hard rock band from India formed in 2009, releasing their debut album ‘Back On Earth’ in 2014. The bands sound is a meld of hard rock and heavy metal, heavily inspired by the decade of evolution – the eighties! ‘Rock The Highway’ is the bands sophomore album, which saw the light of day in 2020, and appeared on many Top Ten Rock/Metal Albums Of 2020 lists, garnering the attention of rockers and metallers from all over the world. The band has supported the likes of Hoobastank, Poets Of The Fall, and (German thrash legends) Destruction, raising their profile with electrifying and highly energetic stage performances. The bands third album ‘Hail To The Heroes’, was released in 2022.

Imagine if you will, growing up during the eighties listening to bands such as Motley Crue, Cinderella, Aerosmith, Faster Pussycat, and Ratt…and some forty years later spinning the latest release from Indian hard rockers Girish And The Chronicles (also known as GATC), and finding the exact same aura and excitement rushing over you as it did all those years ago! You’d be one happy bunny that’s for sure, ’cause I bloody well know I am! I was fortunate to have been around during the eighties (yes, I am that old) and know exactly how it felt to be excited by the cacophony of hard rock and heavy metal of bands such as those I mentioned previously. So, to feel the same way now, the new album from GATC must be something special. And if the opening burst is anything to go by – yea it is! ‘Primeval Desire’ is the opening song – setting off incendiary devices everywhere. Quickly into its stride ‘Primeval Desire’ is a heavy hitting meld of rock and metal with a raspy growl of a vocal delivery from lead singer Girish Pradhan. What an electrifying start!

Heavier hitting, but with as much sizzling energy as ‘Primeval Desire’, ‘Children Of The Night’ will have heads and feet nodding and tapping very hard. The opening double has so much oomph and oof, they’re gonna knock quite a few listeners into next week! And there they’re gonna stay, for ‘I’m Not The Devil’ comes blasting forth with so much energy it’s overwhelming. GATC only came on my radar this year, and what a fucking impact they have made! Blown away is an understatement – the bands brand of full force, face melting rock and metal is terrific. I can fully understand why they have a reputation for their electrifying and energetic stage performances. Moving more into the realms of hard rock territory, ‘Love’s Damnation’ is a majestic swagger of eighties Aerosmith mixed with late eighties Whitesnake – what a combination! As I mentioned earlier, I’d never heard of GATC before this year, but I’m really glad I have now. They’re fucking great!

And oh my God – bringing to the fore a party rock feel, ‘Clearing The Blur’ heralds a stand up and go fucking mental vibe. GATC sprinkling a little AOR too. Is there no style of rock this band hasn’t got in their incredible repertoire? I highly doubt it! Maintaining the bands recent foothold in (just) the hard rock genre, ‘Lovers’ Train’ is a punchy anthemic styled heavy hitter. The emotion you can feel oozing from ‘Lovers’ Train’ is overpowering – no doubt you’ll find yourselves doing an involuntary crazy dance or fancy jig to this one. Look at you go! Punchy hard rock just moved from lightweight to heavyweight with ‘Rock And Roll Jack’ delivering haymakers of the most savage nature. Prepare for a pummelling as ‘Rock And Roll Jack’ rock ‘n’ fucking rolls all over you. Title song ‘Hail To The Heroes’ is preceded by a short mellow guitar intro, and then boom! One of the best AOR/soft rock/hard rock combo’s you’re ever likely to hear this year. The pounding rhythm is infectious, and that chorus is just so sing a long-able. I can see it now, err, I mean hear it now – an in concert audience chanting “hail to the heroes” at the tops of their voices. Salute GATC for creating such a cracking crowd participation moment.

‘Shamans Of Time’ takes the album toward balladry, a more mellow and serene feel descending upon proceedings. All energy and oomph disappears as GATC create a lighters in the air moment, allowing listeners a breather from the breathless flow of every single song that has gone before. And extending the breather, ‘The Heaven’s Crying’ is a more soulful sung ballad, that over the chorus, takes on the epic knife edge tension of Aerosmith’s 1998 number one hit single ‘I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’. And at over six minutes in length, ‘The Heaven’s Crying’ has plenty of epic tension to keep you on your toes. And to the final song. And what a song! Featuring a number of special guests – drummer Chris Adler (Lamb Of God, Megadeth), guitarist/song writer/producer Myrone (Firstborne), and guitarist Rowan Robertson (Dio/Bang Tango/DC4) – ‘Rock N’ Roll Fever’ is a lively, fiery foray of pulsating metal and rock. The fastest song on the album by far, ‘Rock N’ Roll Fever’ sizzles with electrifying energy, making listeners instantly head bang. This final flourish of all out balls out metal, brings a fantastic album to a superb end. Definitely one of the biggest surprises of the year so far.

Overall, a hard rocking, heavy hitting album of terrific rock and metal, GATC have delivered a great album.

TRACKLIST

Primeval Desire
Children Of The Night
I’m Not The Devil
Love’s Damnation
Clearing The Blur
Lovers’ Train
Rock And Roll Jack
Hail To The Heroes (intro)
Hail To The Heroes
Shamans Of Time
The Heaven’s Crying
Rock N’ Roll Fever (feat. Chris Adler, Myrone, Rowan Robertson)

https://www.girishandthechronicles.com/
https://www.facebook.com/girishandthechronicles

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