UFO
A Conspiracy of Stars
SPV/Steamhammer
2015
UFO is a hard rock institution like Nazareth, Rainbow, The Scorpions, Deep Purple and all their ilk… Forty-six years into their career, which has included stratospheric highs and pretty abysmal lows, they do release their twenty-first album, if my counting is right… welcoming new bassist Rob De Luca, in the fold which features original members, singer Phil Mogg and drummer Andy Parker, along with usual suspects, in the past few years, virtuoso guitarist Vinnie Moore on leads and Paul Raymond, on rhythm guitars and keys as necessary.
The said line-up works pretty well and a rather rejuvenated, believe it or believe it not, Mogg on vocals, delivers some of his more spirited performances in a while, without, obviously coming too close to his heyday performances, but still showing that you can still rock n roll, if you don’t feel too old.
The album has a similar feel to the past few releases by the band, which’s been on a steady phase, after a long time of turbulence, following their “glory days” lineup reunion that crashed and burned, quite badly with excellent but at the time uncontrollable guitarist, Michael Schenker, entering and exiting the band and tours at his drunken whim. Thankfully he managed to get detoxed and sober up and seems to be in a much better place, nowadays, coming up with some pretty awesome music in his own right. Not every song’s an absolute winner, but a lot of them do leave the familiar taste of a good vintage, and some, like “The Real Deal” or “Messiah of Love” are even candidate to be considered as new possible for concert setlist inclusion…
All in all a pretty consistent album, that doesn’t hurt the band’s mythos one single little bit… of course the band’s mythos, was build a long time ago, but they still seem able to stand up to what means to be “legendary”...
The said line-up works pretty well and a rather rejuvenated, believe it or believe it not, Mogg on vocals, delivers some of his more spirited performances in a while, without, obviously coming too close to his heyday performances, but still showing that you can still rock n roll, if you don’t feel too old.
The album has a similar feel to the past few releases by the band, which’s been on a steady phase, after a long time of turbulence, following their “glory days” lineup reunion that crashed and burned, quite badly with excellent but at the time uncontrollable guitarist, Michael Schenker, entering and exiting the band and tours at his drunken whim. Thankfully he managed to get detoxed and sober up and seems to be in a much better place, nowadays, coming up with some pretty awesome music in his own right. Not every song’s an absolute winner, but a lot of them do leave the familiar taste of a good vintage, and some, like “The Real Deal” or “Messiah of Love” are even candidate to be considered as new possible for concert setlist inclusion…
All in all a pretty consistent album, that doesn’t hurt the band’s mythos one single little bit… of course the band’s mythos, was build a long time ago, but they still seem able to stand up to what means to be “legendary”...