Time Signature
Heavy does it...
Genre: hard rock
Vocalist Gary John Barden is somewhat of a hard rock veteran, and his vast experience definitely shows on this release which, despite it being a solo album by a vocalist, is very guitar-driven.
The opening track 'Baghdad' is an aggressive metal track which criticizes the U.S.-led war in Iraq, and the similarly themed 'We Are Dead' and 'Before the Eyes of the World' is a heavy and dark hard rock track, and 'Easy Does It' has a 70s Southern rock feel to it.
Tunes like 'Fallen by the Wayside', 'Child of Sorrow', 'Would you Wanna Do', 'Shine a Light on Me', and 'Don't Take me for a Loser' are more melodic old school hard rock tracks with emphasis on catchy choruses and classic hard rock styled riffs, and 'All In' is more of a pop-oriented yet guitar-driven AOR rock tune while 'Blackmail' is a boogie-blues rocker.
Unlike many other hard rock solo vocalists, Gary John Barden has a quite raw and rock 'n' roll friendly voice, which definitely suits both the more metal-oriented tracks and the more melodic hard rock tracks equally well. Also, I find it refreshing with a hard rock album that actually takes up some serious political topics (I mean just check out the cover art, displaying a city on fire), giving the listener some food for thought, as this album definitely does.
"Eleventh Hour" is a very solid hard rock release, which is recommended to fans of melodic metal and 80s hard rock, who do not mind lyrics that are deeper than tits, booze, and ass.