Nitrate is a melodic rock band from the UK founded in 2015 by bass player Nick Hogg. Inspired heavily by the late eighties rock scene with bands such as Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Europe and Journey, Nitrate ooze a sizzling blend of melodic hard rock and AOR, the band releasing four albums to date – ‘Real World’ (2018), ‘Open Wide’ (2019), ‘Renegade’ (2021), and ‘Feel The Heat’…
…emerging in 2023 featuring eleven heavy-hitting rock anthems! The six-piece outfit hailing from Nottingham consists of founder Hogg, vocalist Alexander Strandell (Art Nation, Crowne), drummer Alex Cooper (Devilfire), keyboardist James Martin (Vega), and guitarists Tom Martin (Vega) and Richard Jacques. For the new album, Nitrate also enlisted a number of guest musicians – female rock sensation Issa, and former Danger Danger frontman Paul Laine to name just two. So let’s get into the album, which bursts into life with the energetic title song ‘Feel The Heat’ – hitting as hard as the proverbial tonne of bricks! Nitrate ooze the essence of eighties rock, with the infectious level rising right through the fucking roof! ‘Feel the Heat’ (the song) is everything the aforementioned bands hit fans with during the decade of rock evolution – a blend of AOR and hard rock that’s simply irresistible! And so are Nitrate.
The band have all the right moves and the perfect sound, the album roaring on with the even more energetic ‘All The Right Moves’. Emanating a huge driving anthem feel, ‘All The Right Moves’ would be ideal for a long drive in the countryside during the summer – not the freezing winter cold that’s staring back at me through the window right now! But saying that, ‘All The Right Moves’ is warming my heart, planting a smile a mile wide on my face – and I’m sure I’m not the only one smiling right now, every listener everywhere must be smiling too! And if you’re not, you must be deaf! Or dead! For the opening double has been red hot, ‘Wild In The City’ raising the temperature even higher, its sound resonating with pop rock – yet hitting harder than pop rock ever could! And when the chorus kicks in, every hair on my neck stands to attention, the chills and excitement is eargasmic, ‘Wild In The City’ delivering the kinda sensations normally reserved for nocturnal carnal adventures! Or daytime ones – just whenever you need a little love! Or a lot of love! The opening threesome has been immensely sumptuous, ‘Feel the Heat’ (the album) turning heads all over the world – ‘Needs A Little Love’ maintaining the incredible eighties rock aura the album began with. And by now regular readers are probably thinking “why’s this metalhead so crazy for a rock album” – well you know, metalheads don’t just like metal, we like rock too! And in the shape of Nitrate, what’s not to like?
Featuring the arena rock roar of Issa, ‘One Kiss (To Save My Heart)’ is a power ballad of the tallest order. The oomph and reined-in energy is phenomenal – you can just sense ‘One Kiss (To Save My Heart)’ is ready to burst, letting all hell break loose! But the band do a terrific job of holding it all in, listeners, fans and followers everywhere lifting lighters high in the air and swaying from side to side. And even though we’ve just had a ballad, the incredible momentum gained since the album began, hasn’t actually dipped – ‘Live Fast, Die Young’ breaking out into a trot. Faster-paced than any song heard so far, ‘Live Fast, Die Young’ is also harder-hitting, joining ‘All The Right Moves’ as a driving anthem. A driving anthem to turn heads and drop jaws to the floor – I can hear the thuds from here!
And taking over as the hardest-hitting song heard so far, ‘Haven’t Got Time For Heartache’ is a bombastic barrage of hard rock with a superb AOR-led chorus break. The way Nitrate seamlessly swing from one rock style to another is incredible, the band roaming all around the genre of rock, visiting every corner, nook and cranny to deliver a mesmerising mix of styles! Are the Nottingham outfit delivering one of the best melodic rock albums of the year? Me definitely thinks so – ‘Satellite’ opens with a riff that reminds me of Eric Carmen’s ‘Hungry Eyes’ (featured in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing). And this, right here, is how amazingly eighties the Nitrate sound is – and I should know, for I was a teenager during the eighties, growing up listening to all the rock greats evolve the sound of rock. So when a band comes along that takes me back to such a glorious time, I absolutely love ’em! And even more so when they’re British – Britain (arguably) the birthplace of rock (and unequivocally the birthplace of metal). ‘Feel The Heat’ (the album) is definitely gonna find its way into my car, the album exploding with energy once more as ‘Strike Like A Hurricane’ thunders in and canters on, pushing everything and everyone outta the way! The oomph and oof of ‘Strike Like A Hurricane’ is phenomenal, the band hitting harder than ever to deliver (what is surely gonna become) an in concert crowd favourite! It’d be one of mine without a shadow of a doubt!
And at this stage of the album with only two songs left to go, I didn’t think the album could get any more bombastic! Yet here I am, being proven wrong by the band Big Time – ‘Big Time’ the biggest barrage of bombast ‘Feel The Heat’ (the album) has to offer! Nitrate are pounding the ground harder than ever, shaking buildings to their foundations with an immense amount of force, ‘Big Time’ offering a much higher level of excitement than at any other point on the album! And that includes the eargasmic ‘Wild In The City’ – ‘Stay’ bringing the album to a close with a swagger. A swagger through balladry that is, for ‘Stay’ is a power ballad that simply gets stronger and stronger, switching to a stroll after two minutes to become as hard rocking as every other song on offer. ‘Feel The Heat’ (the album) has been a staggering discovery and an absolute pleasure to listen to.
Overall, a heart-pounding, pulse-racing album of melodic rock with a huge eighties feel and an incredibly high infectious level.
TRACKLIST
Feel The Heat
All The Right Moves
Wild In The City
Needs A Little Love
One Kiss (To Save My Heart) (feat. Issa)
Live Fast, Die Young
Haven’t Got Time For Heartache
Satellite
Strike Like A Hurricane
Big Time
Stay
Nitrate: Facebook
Release Year: 2023
Label: Frontiers Music s.r.l.
Category: Album
Country: UK
Reviewed by Iron Mathew for Frenzy Fire and Metal-Roos.
