Big City- "Testify X"

Modern melodic heavy rock,in the vein of the wet dreams that Scandinavian rock is with the needed guitar virtuoso show off and some major hooks. Songs like 'Heart like a lion" could be IRON MAIDEN meets HOUSE OF LORDS and the whole album is filled with modern melodic rock that has also elements of the melodic side of NWOBHM (PRAYING MANTIS TOBRUK etc). "Graveyard love" comes with an opener like the glory days of TEN and moves to frenzy guitar driven melodic song reminiscent of early Malmsteen, TALISMAN with a touch of US power scene. From the opener "The rush" is like QUEENSRYCHE met JOURNEY or even better TOTO to the more WASP meets QUEENSRYCHE ``Dark rider" the band combines the heaviness with commercial touch. "Testify" has this majestic riff that demands your attention and when keyboards enter is a treat for the ears with its melodic breaks and the addictive hooks. I guess DEMON are the band they really have as an abstract idea regarding combining metal and melody.

Big City is a melodic metal band from Norway, The band was originally put together by guitarist and songwriter Daniel Olaisen. Frank Ørland, who also played with Daniel in Scariot (prog/thrash/heavy band featuring Communic and Spiral Architect members), was an obvious choice to bring to Big City as the second guitarist. Frank Nordeng Røe (Withem, Maraton, session drummer for Circus Maximus and Leprous) was brought in on drums . The band was then completed with Jan Le Brandt on vocals and Geir Inge Olsen, who was brought in as a session bass player.The band's debut album, "Winter sleep", was initially released in 2014 and later on re-released by the Greek label Rock of Angels in 2018 as part of a deluxe edition of their second album,In 2019, the band started working on a new album and brought in a new singer, Jørgen Bergersen from Rock the Night (Europe cover band) and the new demos caught the interest of Frontiers who moved swiftly to sign the band.

A band who know how to write songs, big, pomp,metallic, yet melodic like early EUROPE but with a more progressive/,melodic feeling. RACER X is another fine example that could come to mind, but BIG CITY don't need and don't want comparisons. TNT in their early years are a good comparison, only here the sound is more metal and less anthemic in the way Le Tekro writes. Great choruses and some serious guitar work are making "Testify X" a stand out album in a saturated genre and era. An album that aims to metal fans and don't look at the pathway to AOR, pop, disco paths but is still an amalgam of melody and catchy riffs and hooks.

8