Glitzine [8/10]  

The Guestz are a four piece rock 'n' roll band hailing from Rome who formed in 2006 when the rhythm section (which includes bass player Rob'n'Roll from Italian glamsters Bubblegum Kiss) from a Darkness tribute band called "The Brightness" hooked up with vocalist Mimmo God and guitarist Jonna. The name of the band came about after they booked an opening slot on a local show before having a name, the flyer read "…and Guests" at the bottom so the band took the name so it looked like they had their name on the flyer. The CD was recorded in January of this year at Temple of Noise studios.

Opening the disc is "Jonna Wants Two Beers" with a great melodic guitar line on the intro before the vocals kick in which have a very AC/DC style to them and then breaks into a chorus which has a much less throaty sound to Mimmo's singing. It's a very catchy song and a great way to drag the listener in from the start. Next up is "Piracy" which has a wonderful sounding sample of an old scratchy vinyl record over an acoustic intro. It's a much more melodic track than the first and has some great guitar work throughout and cowbell at the end. I always say you can't go too far wrong with cowbell in a song! "House of Rock" is a fantastic party rock song with typical rock'n'roll lyrics. That's no criticism by the way, a song with a title like this could hardly be anything else lyrically. Somehow I don't think the title would fit on a touching ballad and isn't rock 'n' roll supposed to be big dumb fun?!?! It's a wonderful feel good song that will stay with you and my favourite track on the disc. "Naked Alice" is a fast hard rock song with a killer chorus and a lot of attitude. The disc closes with "In the Blink of An Eye" which has an AC/DC style riff for the intro but the song itself reminds me a lot of Babylon A.D. I'd have to say this one would get my vote for radio airplay, while I prefer "House of Rock" I think this track would appeal to a much wider audience. Unfortunately it all ends too soon but certainly leaves you wanting more. There may be only 5 songs on offer but they're 5 strong songs and there's a hell of a lot of albums with three times as many songs but nowhere near as much strength in the songwriting as this.

The band are in the early stages of their career and have so far only played shows in their home town of Rome apart from a slot on the infamous Glamattakk festival in Torino earlier this year. However this release is certainly strong enough to propel them forward and gain them a lot of new fans all over Europe and into the US. Hopefully they'll soon get the opportunity to play more shows further across Europe and if they ever make it over to the UK you can count on me being down the front row. A great debut release from a band with a shit-load of potential!

John Baxter - Glitzine [www.glitzine.net]

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