I first came across Liquid Steel a few years back at a small club in Austria, opening for sleaze/glam rockers Kissin’ Dynamite and was quite impressed with what I heard. Their debut offering ‘Fire In The Sky’ was quite well received (read our review HERE) and the new album ‘Midnight Chaser’ continues in the same vein. Traditional heavy metal chock-full of melodic twin leads and sing-along vocal harmonies. There’s a respectable amount of cheese – typical for bands of this genre and I’m not complaining.
The album starts strong with ‘Kingdom of Silence’ – the first single released from the album. The title track ‘Midnight Chaser’ is a tad bit generic with the riffing but ‘Air Aces’ that follows next picks up where ‘Kingdom of Silence’ left off; strong riffing, a melodic Iron Maiden-meets-Slash solo and an anthemic build up to the outro chorus. The sort of track you want to end a concert with.
As with ‘Fire In The Sky,’ there’s a respectful nod towards the Japanese with ‘Hiroshima’ – a song that sings about the atomic bombing of the city – the destruction and fire, but also promises that “the rising sun will shine again.” The extended interlude and guitar solo feels self-indulgent and drags on but the next track ‘Starrider’ makes up for it as do the following tracks. ‘Autumn Leaves’ is the quintessential power ballad that builds up with a soaring guitar solo and speeds up towards the end, while ‘Kubla Khan’ brings the album a close with more twin leads.
All in all, the album has a good amount of redeeming qualities. I seem to prefer the band’s earlier offering over this but that by no means takes anything away from this release. It stands its own and despite a few weak moments, delivers overall. Recommended.