LANDFALL
“THE TURNING POINT”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

9/10

Landfall are a hard rock band from Brazil, releasing their debut album ‘The Turning Point’ in 2020.

Brazil, a country more noted for it’s brutal thrash metal contribution to the world, is now giving the world a new hard rock band. With Marcelo Gelbcke (guitars), Thiago Forbeci (bass), Felipe Souzza (drums), and featuring former Auras singer Gui Oliver, Landfall are gonna rip up Brazils brutal thrash blueprint, and assault the world with their brand of punchy hard rock, melodic rock and AOR. The bands debut album is a collection of eleven kick ass songs, in the vein of AOR greats Journey and Kansas, and hard rockers Dokken and White Lion. Bringing the album to life, is the melodic rocker ‘Rush Hour’ – a high energy up tempo blast. And immediately you’ll find your feet tapping vigorously, and your head energetically nodding. The infectious nature of ‘Rush Hour’ is magnetic, it’s gonna be stuck in your head for a very long time. ‘No Way Out’ picks up the rock baton, adding a bit more beef to the bands sound, yet maintaining the insatiable magnetism of the previous song. And in just two songs, Landfall have announced their presence in a very big way…

…with third song ‘Jane’s Carousel’ a punchy slice of melodic AOR. Landfall are a million miles away from the usual rock or metal bands to have emerged from Brazil over the years. Their brand of rock is a breath of fresh air – light and fluffy but with weight to it. The hardest hitting offering so far, is the up tempo ‘Across The Street’. With the party well and truly started, partygoers will be up on tables strutting their stuff, holding beers high and smiling from ear to ear. The atmosphere Landfall have created is a joyous one, engulfing everyone in sight, or should that be in earshot of their music! The band take a turn toward ballad territory, with the more mellow and soulful ‘Don’t Come Easy’. A definite lighters in the air moment, ‘Don’t Come Easy’ remains half a step away from falling fully into ballad territory – it’s just a little too rocky… And talking of rocky, the rockiest song heard so far ‘Taxi Driver’, hits really hard, as the pace, head nodding, and feet tapping all quicken in unison. Landfall are having fun with this album, and that fun is projected outta the speakers and onto (or into) their listeners. Oh there’s gonna be big smiles everywhere…

…which are not gonna disappear for a while yet, as the happy party mood continues with ‘Distant Love’. Energetic and infectious, ‘Distant Love’ has the best sing a long chorus on offer, with a crowd in a live arena screaming “here we go again…”. This is a sparkling effort from a new band, a new band that has me scrabbling around trying to find more descriptive terms than just party feel, happy mood inducing, and melodic mastery. ‘Roundabout’ has the big rock sound from the eighties, all punchy riffs and booming vocals. The sing a long ability of ‘Roundabout’ is top notch, and is a definite highlight among many highlights the album has to offer. Easy like a Sunday morning, ‘Road Of Dreams’ is a majestic swagger, a tall striding number to accompany a morning brunch with a loved one, on a beach, on a very hot summers day. In fact, if you were gonna take your loved one on a “road trip” to the country, you wouldn’t go far wrong having this album playing on the in-car CD player. And in the shape of the mighty ‘Hope Hill’ turning the air a cool shade of romance, the atmosphere becomes electric, with a tingling sensation creeping up all over the body. What an impact this album is having – it’s a shame that the final song is now just around the corner. But I would highly recommend listening to the album again and again, for ‘The Turning Point’ has been a little gem. The album is brought to a close with ‘Sound Of The City’, yet another up tempo, high energy romp that is deserving of a big round of applause. ‘Sound Of The City’ is memorable for all the right reasons, and wouldn’t be out of place in concert as the final song of the night. What a finish…

Overall, melodic hard rock to head nod and foot tap to, Landfall have launched their career in incredible style with a very good debut.

TRACKLIST

Rush Hour
No Way Out
Jane’s Carousel
Across The Street
Don’t Come Easy
Taxi Drover
Distant Love
Roundabout
Road Of Dreams
Hope Hill
Sound Of The City

https://www.facebook.com/landfallofficial

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