Massive Wagons – not selling their souls for Rock & Roll when everything in life is so free and easy. Giving it all they’ve got is the only way to go.

Release Date: 8th November 2024

Label: Earache Records

Format: digital / LP (various formats) / CD

The riff monsters are back.

Bless their little / knee length socks, these boys work hard. It’s a surprise they haven’t worked those same socks off. Some of you may be down at your local record emporium seeing the Wagons on an instore promo tour around (a) the album release and (b) ahead of their ‘big’ (ie, concert hall) tour later this month where tickets are running low if not sold out in many venues.

It’s literally two years since Triggered! and while our last MW encounter was in Warrington in the Spring celebrating 2016’s Welcome to The World album, the way is most definitely forward. For a shot of punked up muscle, melodies, riffs and hooks, stop here. Earth To Grace finds Massive Wagons – aka amongst other things as Lancaster’s rabble rousers -standing proud and singing for the disenfranchised, the disillusioned, the downtrodden and the souls in need as well as boldly waving the flag against hypocrisy and greed.

Declaring the intent, the headbangers delight, Sleep Forever is a breakneck opening. 0-60 in a few seconds, and maybe the antidote to No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith, the Wagons invoke the spirit of Lem. A bold choice of single, yet much more familiar fare is Missing On TV. All chugging tempos and singalong friendly, chorus hooks. No wonder Baz Mills calls the track “in all of our Top 3 album songs – a Wagons classic.” 

if its good enough for leppard…

Talking quotes, “if you’re needing a moan, remember you’re never alone” Free And Easy swaggers with an AC/DCesque riff and a commitment to living positively – also encompassed in the dose of real life reality: “I need to empty my bins because they’re starting to smell...” And talking stadium rock bands, there are hints of a Def Leppard polish with the guitars chiming and sparkling on Night Skies. Rare melancholy musings and the slogan of ‘you are never alone’ – great T shirt slogan btw – and a lyric from which the album borrows its title. A Massive Wagons track that seems strangely reflective and amongst the usual electric energy one that broods and smoulders.

From stadium Rock to power pop vitality with a contribution from Hundred Reasons’ Colin Doran, The Good Die Young even has a dash of Busted (remember them kids?). Another choice cut for a single yet to be fair, more often that not the Wagons have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to choosing a single from their albums. Fun While It Lasted lands another one of those irresistible choruses and the title line faces off against a masterful solo for best moment of the three and half minutes.

couplets to rhyme for

Stop start riffing, a behemoth of a riff and some of Baz’s best couplets – “I’m a man who knows a bit, I’ve been around the block and I’ve seen some shit!” – mark Cool As A Fox with a defiant declaration of hope, which handily rhymes with ‘cope’ – and there’s the message. The core riff is brilliant. It must have been great fun just jamming on this in the studio while plotting how it’s a great opp for a breakdown and audience participation slot.

Whatever Makes You Happy reverts to a darker sound and fearsome riff, (dah-dah-dah-daaaahhh) dangerous enough to cause considerable consternation. The imagined sweep of strings adds to a soundtrack that plays in your head when you’re approaching a shadowy corner, only to find Jimmy Page gurning over a Metallica riff.

With Rabbit Hole, Earth To Grace ends as it began. An impressive wild outpouring matches the frantic Rock and Roll pace. For an encore, the addition of a handful of bonus tracks keeps up the pace. Punk At Heart does what it says on the tin carrying into OCD, with some classic twin guitar parts and a delivery that matches the manic intensity. By contrast, a couple of acoustic tracks include a Dylanesque/Pogues singalong Needles And Hay and a fun, swing yer pants, cowboy version of Free And Easy complete with barrelhouse piano and probably a spittoon in the corner.

triggered? topped?

The thought that it might have been hard for Triggered! to top House Of Noise reoccurs. Can Earth To Grace top Triggered! ? “We could not be happier with what we’ve created,” says Baz. “I believe we have some of our best music to date on Earth To Grace.” if it’s not obvious from the previous few hundred words, the assessment is pretty bob on. Earth To Grace is Massive Wagons mastering the fine art of surpassing themselves.

Here’s Missing On TV:

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