The Moshville Times - Review: Lancaster

It’s always good to catch wind of a debut album, and this one from Spanish alternative rock band Lancaster is a doozy.

I don’t have an awful lot of information about the band themselves, other than that they’re based between London and Barcelona and are a five-piece in the traditional mould (vocals, 2 x guitar, bass, drums). Their sound is fairly heavy for an alternative band, but they have some great hooks and just enough mainstream appeal to perhaps sell a few albums outside of the rock/metal faithful.

Lead single “As Wild As Tigers” is definitely the strongest song on the album (you can check it out below) and reminds me somewhat of 30 Seconds to Mars’ “Kings & Queens”. Bouncy, catchy, some great hooks and riffs… overall a cracking track.

It’s indicative of the band’s overall style and the strength of the rest of the album. Opener “Die Young” has the kind of long musical intro that just begs to be played as a band walks on stage before launching into something that will get a crowd bouncing. “The Beast in Me” is more melancholy, but no less powerful; a much slower, emotive track. It’s variety like this that stops the album getting boring.

“Young Blood (Take Me Higher)” is probably my second stand-out track along with “As Wild As Tigers”. It’s probably the closest on the album to being a traditional mainstream rock track, mainly pretty hectic but with a slow, building section around halfway through and a nice bridge later on.

Lancaster reckoned it was time to spread their wings and take their music out of Spain, into other countries. With the songs on this album, I reckon those countries will welcome them.

Journeys will be released on November 17th, 2014.

Journeys track listing: