C.O.P. UK - No Place for Heaven

C.O.P. UK No Place for Heaven cover
C.O.P. UK
No Place for Heaven
UDR Music
2016
9
It’s pretty funny, but all the while, you sit back and reminisce about the past and how good music used to be, there are bands out there that you’ve “never heard of” before that most of the times, tend to “tank”… or do very averagely. Hot on the heels of a tour with Helloween, C.O.P. UK (Crimes Of Passion UK) released “No Place for Heaven” their third album, the first one for UDR GmbH Label Services, on January 22nd 2016.
 
Produced and mixed by Sascha Paeth, this Sheffield sextet (!) delivers some steaming hard rock anthems, influenced by Def Leppard, White Lion etc… the hooks, the power and the melody are all there and delivered unmistakably song after song, with great aplomb.
 
They might have been lucky enough to be championed by people like Helloween and Biff Byford of Saxon but that wouldn’t have taken them very far if they weren’t good. No screw that great… “No Place for Heaven” reminded me of some of the best PC69 work, excellent and engaging from start to finish…
 
Once the huge chorus of energetic opener “The Core” arrived, I was taken aback, thinking wow!, this is a really bloody good song, way too catchy. Every little bit of the song, there for a reason, Paeth’s magic, making sure they sound arena sized…
 
“My Blood” manages to replicate the triumph, albeit a bit darker and more “gothic” (not really gothic, but “deeper”), I thought to myself OK that’s probably the 2-3 good songs the band has, let’s prepare for a snoozefest, onwards...
 
Well “Kiss of an Angel” is a ballad and slows things down, but it doesn’t put you to sleep, quite the contrary it manages to make the hair on you stand… a ballad that’s big, melodic, bold, just like they used to make em, back in the day! Most excellent and a bit reminiscent even of some of the more melodic Dire Straits moments at one point! Another ace, chorus scored. At this point I was starting to think to myself, “damn this band I‘ve never heard before, must be really good”!
 
“Take It to the Grave” is a far stronger and at least initially heavier offering, which still delivers an XXL chorus, that’s helluva catchy!
 
The title cut “No Place for Heaven” is not less impressive, a half ballad that has its heavier moments and even a small duet section with some quite pleasant female voice.
 
“Burn Hell” had me looking for “in”… it’s probably a little less immediate than the rest of the songs and it almost reminded me of the “bluesier/poppier” hard rock moments of Virgin Steel, at tiems…
 
“Halo” begins with a quite persistent riff, which is quite tasty and it’s probably the most metallic moment, despite having a decidedly hard rock chorus…
 
I never expected that the band would keep a song as catchy as “Catch Me If You Can” for until after the middle of the album, but they did. It’s a hard rocker with some nice verses that seems unassuming until the titanic sized chorus hits. Had Tobias Sammet performed this little tune at his Melodischen-Festivalen preliminaries, he’d have taken no1 with no contest! This one song scores from the locker room, so to speak (that’s a saying)… friggin great!
 
“No Man’s Land” is contrastingly downtrodden, minor and quite sad, which feels a little odd, for such a carefree & feel-good album, but it’s a great piece, no matter what, just a bit different and a little more ambition... one has to comment not only the band’s singer, Dale Radcliffe, for his superb vocals but also the entire band, for managing to pull off so many great songs…
 
“One in a Million” is probably one of the least engaging numbers, but still it doesn’t feel like filler, not with a nice solo like the one it has.
 
Last but not least, “Stranger Than Fiction” is another quite “blue” song that however manages to incorporate quite an uplifting chorus that’s pretty sweet…
 
All I can say is ‘Bravo’ and just go buy this, if you appreciate good music. There’s always albums that you‘ll hear and forget about after a while, but I can guarantee that this is not one of them!