Walking into the Academy on Sunday evening there was a real buzz about the place as if those present were on the crest of witnessing something big. The feeling that Inglorious, only two albums into their career, may well be on the fast track to the very top.
Prior to the main even, former Little Angels lead singer Toby Jepson’s new outfit Wayward Sons warmed the crowd up nicely with a set drawn from their excellent debut album Ghosts of Yet To Come featuring some fine slabs of commercial edged Hard Rock with I Don’t Wanna Go and the Thin Lizzy fuelled Be Still displaying some sterling song writing. Jepson, who has a Number 1 album to his name from his Little Angels days showed no signs of indignation at returning as an opening act with an assured and imposing performance that only hints at bigger things to come.
Last year, Inglorious opened for Last In Line, the supergroup featuring members of Dio, Black Sabbath and Def Leppard in the smaller hall upstairs. Fast forward a year and this show was originally booked for that very same hall until their second album gatecrashed the Top 10 causing a surge in demand for tickets and an upgrade into the main hall.
With a new album to add to their highly acclaimed debut album, Inglorious now have a wealth and range of material to draw from resulting in a much more balanced set that ebbed and flowed highlighting the extraordinary vocal talents of Nathan James.
Read All About It lit the fuse as the show exploded into life as the brooding High Flying Gypsy and hard rocking Hell or High Water stepped up a gear as returning guitarist Drew Lowe added some real bite to the show.
Drawing on influences from 1987-era Whitesnake and vintage Bad Company gives a hint of their direction yet they never sound like copy cats more like taking that classic blue print and remodelling it for the 21st century. This is made all the more startling bearing in mind most of the band were not even born when their influences reigned supreme.
There’s undoubtedly many Dads, husbands and boyfriends who have sat arms folded scowling at X-Factor and other reality music shows on a Saturday night bemoaning any genuine talent being unearthed. Nathan James can certainly counter that criticism after appearing on The Voice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Superstar. With a voice to match those of the golden era of Rock, James is a star in the making and it surely won’t be long until his name is mentioned in the same breath as David Coverdale, Paul Rodgers and Ronnie James Dio and that is high praise indeed. His delivery during Holy Water and Until I Die is testament to that.
A moving acoustic tribute to recently departed singers Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington which saw James doing real justice to Linkin Park’s Numb and Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden was a nice touch to the show.
For a relatively new band Inglorious perform like seasoned veterans at the very top of their game. That they only have two albums to their name makes the magnitude of their performance all the more impressive.
With many of the classic bands such as Black Sabbath, AC/DC and Rush seemingly calling it a day and with many others in the twilight of their careers many have asked where the next generation of Rock superstars are coming from. Inglorious may well have answered that very question.
Be the first to comment