“House of who?” I hear you cry! Well you might not recognise the name, but you have certainly heard of these guys. The last two years saw House of X honing their sound, touring all over Britain and Europe with a set made up of songs from their many and various “past lives”. With a powerhouse foundation of Clive Edwards and Rocky Newton (on drums and bass/backing vocals respectively) and a frontline attack featuring the magic of Laurence Archer (guitar/backing vocals) and the seemingly unstoppable drive of Danny Peyronnel (lead vocals), House of X represents the next stage in the life of the band previously known as X-UFO (reviewed by my good self when they visited The Railway Venue, Bolton in February 2012 https://www.rock-zone.co.uk/2012/02/19/x-ufo-the-railway-venue-17th-february-2012/).
The effect of these shows clearly galvanised the guys into progressing into new material, this release of wholly new material really hits the mark. Truly awesome great British hard rock, that very clearly has the DNA of Wild Horses, Def Leppard, Meat Loaf, Phil Lynott’s Grand Slam, Lionheart, Sweet and of course, MSG and UFO. Having had the opportunity to see both the current UFO line-up and House of X, I’m afraid I have to admit to having a much larger space in my heart for these guys. Sure, Messrs Mogg, Raymond et al certainly have a history but to my eyes/ears they seemed to me to be producing a “hard rock by numbers” performance – I realise that others may/will disagree with me on this but every song on offer here delivers something that sounds very current – plus you can’t get any more new millenium than one word titled songs, can you? Occasional drum loops on “Millions” coupled with Danny’s vocal make fora track that reminds me a little of Waters era Pink Floyd – only without the self indulgent, “aren’t I clever” stuff that makes some of the Floyd stuff inaccesible to me.
Once again, the team at Escape Records have unearthed a gem … well, when I say unearthed – the quality on offer was no secret to me or any of the many fans the boys attracted durig their live shows. I, for one, can’t wait for the next live show which should see them fill the set with most of this album (I hope).
Track List:
1) Do Me Wrong
2) No More Tequila
3) Long Arm Of The Law
4) No Way Home
5) The Road Less Troubled
6) Martian Landscape
7) Rage
8) Alive
9) Busted
10) Second Son
11) House Of Lies
12) Millions
“House of X” is available now, via Escape Records
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