Stephen
'We Believe In Rock N' Roll' is a clear sign on the front door when you're about to enter the world of Close Quarters. A slice of Finnish pie in the style of Hanoi Rocks, some sticks from AC/DC dynamites, and the glamorous grip of Kiss and Twisted Sister are the main ingredients that cook up this album. Depends on how you value a band's identity and measure their progress, their music isn't awfully original but done right in many ways and it's very effective to keep the mood flyin' high, especially with those party vibes they threw in majority of their songs, but back again to the original issue - how often do you come across a band these days that's not influenced by the 80s, perhaps close to zero right?
'Just For Tonight' and 'I Believe In Rock N' Roll' are two hell of a songs to unleash an ecstatic aura near the listeners. I even think for a second, how come Dee Snider didn't think of these for their 'Come Out And Play' material. 'You Wanna Get Away' and 'Blackout' are totally a good AC/DC homage. They went downhill on 'Patience' and 'Wild Nights', but I can't deny the greatness of 'Ridin' On', 'Only In It For The Chicks', or 'Your War'. Viktor's raspy and raucous vocal blends gently with the music and KK's sharp playing enhances the whole thing.
This record is very straight-forward with no intention of putting anything complex or any mischievous twist, the idea is to have the total fun, underlining the title of the album, 'We Believe In Rock N' Roll'. Each song flows smoothly and each riffs placed here should be very familiar to you who's grown in the 80s decade. A typical Friday night out-with-the-boys disc you don't wanna forget carrying when you're cruising down for a party. Solid stuff indeed and if you think rock and roll is pretty much dead, wait till you hear this!