Spanish rock quintet Lancaster’s debut album Journeys is average. The album opens with the song Die Young which opens with a drab instrumental that leads into the verse. The guitar isn’t overly complex but it is easy to listen to; it’s just not thrilling. The drums are more complex and they compliment the song well. The vocals sound nice but they’re average sounding, there isn’t anything that stands out about them. The small instrumental bridge is well written, it’s maybe to short but it works well to split the song up and make it more exciting.
As Wild As Tigers is the band’s debut single and the guitar is well written, as are the drums. The bass compliments the song and really adds to the build ups and power of the chorus, which is catchy, however the vocals aren’t really clear and you have to listen intently to hear what is being said. The synth in the chorus really adds to the dynamics of the song and help make it pop.
Young Blood (Take Me Higher) is a heavier song instrumentally with a powerful, awesome sounding bass underlining the song. The guitar riff could easily make you headbang, especially when it’s complimented by the pounding, heavy drums. However, the vocals take away from the aggression of the song as they don’t have a raw edge and tone that would give the vocals some aggression. The vocals sound nice, but they do not fit the instrumentation.
As I said, it’s an average debut album. It’s got some well written songs, but none of the songs are going to make it on to British mainstream radio. The guitar and drums have their high points of impressive musicianship, the bass helps complement the songs and the vocals sound nice, but that’s as far is it goes – there’s nothing show-stopping about them. They’ve got well written melodies and some good lyrics throughout the album, but it just lacks some flair.
6/10
