Kev Rowland
Stala & So have been around for more than fifteen years now, but this is only their second album, following up on ‘It Is So’. When it comes to their image there is no doubt that 70’s and 80’s glam rock bands, such as Sweet, T-Rex and Ziggy Stardust -era David Bowie, have had a strong influence but musically these guys are not what you might expect. They state that their main aim is to create music but always to have fun doing so, and the image just doesn’t connect with the sound that is coming through the speakers. Here we have melodic rock of the very highest order, as the guys mix Talisman and Toto with elements of Journey to create a sound that is both timeless and wonderful.
It is no surprise that famed producer Beau Hill (Ratt, Europe, Alice Cooper, Twisted Sister, Warrant and many more) approached the band to see if he could get involved in some way. This has all that a melodic rock lover could ever want from a band with hooks aplenty, harmonies and lead vocals that are always spot on, but never forgetting that they are first and foremost a rock band and provide the edginess that comes with that. But, as I said, these guys are all about having fun, which has to be why they approached the final song in the way that they did. This is a gentle acoustic number, with just vocals and delicate picking to start it off. It is fragile, it is fractured, with a simple beauty that is almost breathtaking in it’s audacity. Audacity? Well, this is a cover of Ozzy’s “Shot In The Dark”! You’ve never heard it played like this, and on many levels this has elevated that song to something else altogether. They may not look like a melodic rock band, but they don’t sound like many of them either – that’s because they are so much better. This is a stunning melodic album.