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Sleazy Future

    
       
       
       
     
             
Click here to read an Italian version.    
             
Tracy Grave are a hard rock band from Italy, formed in 2017, after Italian composer, singer and songwriter Tracy Grave met with guitarist Mark Shovel. Tracy had previously performed as a singer for a number of cover bands, and also released two E.P.'s as a solo artist. Recruiting bass player Nero Viper, drummer John Hurricane and a second guitarist Enea Grave, the band released their debut album, 'Sleazy Future' in 2018.    
             
1991 saw Skid Row change the face of the sleaze metal genre with the release of the groundbreaking 'Slave To The Grind' album. They fused elements of hard rock and heavy metal into the established sleaze metal genre to produce a hard hitting melodic metal album. The debut album by Italian hard rockers Tracy Grave has that same style and sound. As it's "all been done before", 'Sleazy Future' is not a genre changing release, but it is an album that will bring forth great memories of the early nineties and the path Skid Row forged. 'Cemetery Sin' gets the album underway in a bustling hard rock style, big riffing and sharp edged. Head noddingly addictive, 'Cemetery Sin' is an immediate like, hooking you and reeling you in like an expert fisherman on a good day. 'Dirty Rain' is more melodic, yet just as addictive, tinged in AOR with a superb clean and clear vocal delivery. A catchy sing a long style chorus to enjoy, fans everywhere will be smiling a mile wide...and the album is only two songs in!    
             
Ten songs across forty minutes is average for a modern day release, the only thing average about this album! Quickening the pace to an electrifying romp, 'Without Scars' is a pulsating journey of rampant riffs and galloping rhythms. Harder than the opening two songs, 'Without Scars' reinforces the harder edge of the sleaze metal genre. Introducing a Southern Rock style swagger to the album, 'Dancing On The Sunset' is fuelled by a bluesy sounding guitar style. Four songs in and each one displaying a different musical influence...whoops, make that five now as 'Freedom Without Rules' is a power ballad straight out of the Bon Jovi box. A definite lighters in the air moment, 'Freedom Without Rules' has plenty of passion, emotion and devotion as it glides smoothly on by. 'Make You Feel The Pain' has similar traits as the previous song, however, I do detect a little hint of (early) Poison sewn in their too. The influences upon Tracy Grave ranges from the seminal 'Slave To The Grind' album to bands such as Bon Jovi and Poison...not a bad mix, not a bad mix at all.    
             
Swaggering and ballsy, 'My last Goodbye' is a punchy mid tempo colossus. The biggest riffing song on the album, it hits so hard you're gonna be knocked into next week well before it ends. The chorus break is a sing a long affair and you'll be involuntarily waving your arms from side to side, such is its effect. The pulsating and electrifying romping returns in full swing, with 'Over The Top' running wild across the land. 'Over The Top' is anthemic style party rock, and will definitely give a party the kick it needs to get going. 'Piece Of Horizon' is the best of all the power ballads on offer. It's the biggest riffing, the chunkiest, the spunkiest and the punchiest of them all and may just leave light bruising around your head as it gently slaps you. The album is brought to a close by a third electrifying romper. 'Return (Back In My Hands)' is out and out hard rock at its very best, bringing the curtain down on a cracking journey through the genres of hard rock and sleaze metal.    
             
Overall, hugely influenced by the early nineties sleaze metal/hard rock genres, Tracy Grave deliver an addictive and infectious album of hard edged hard rock.    
             
             
Review by Iron Mathew Collins    
             
Reviewed for Rockers And Other Animals    
             
             
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