HIGH SPIRITS
HIGH SPIRITS – “Safe on the Other Side”
By Colonel Angus
I was turned on to the talents of Chris Black when a friend of mine gifted me a disk by a band AKTOR. The album was 2015’s “Paranoia” and from that point on I was hooked. That band captured a great seventies vibe and to my ears, they harnessed all the rawness of the NWOBHM and the quirky-ness of early BLUE OYSTER CULT. After doing some research on that band, I came across HIGH SPIRITS which is basically a one-man band with Chris Black providing everything. I enjoyed 2020’s “Hard to Stop” so I was excited to get a chance to sample his latest offering which I’m happy to report is more of the same.
“Safe on the Other Side” is another slab of catchy tunes that remind me of mid-80s metal without the annoying keyboards. Things start off with a great faster tune called “In the Moonlight” which has contains a really infectious chorus that you’ll be humming for days. After that slap of melodic metal, the next couple of tracks settle into a more mid-paced tempo with “Lonely Nights” being one of the stars on this disk. The chorus is so catchy that I keep wanting to hit “repeat” whenever I listen to the whole record. It doesn’t take too much effort because this whole release is full of melody and memorable riffs. Speaking of riffs, I get an AC/DC vibe with “Anything You Need” but most of the tune gives off an early IRON MAIDEN feel.
Next up is the only song on “Safe on the Other Side” that doesn’t grab you right away. “(There Will Be) Magic Tonight” is a good track but it works only when I listen to the whole album. It’s not one I would go to separately like I would pretty much every other tune on offer here. Following that is “Loving You” and quite honestly, if you told me this was recorded and released in the mid-80s, I would believe it. There is just something about that tune that incorporates the fun element from 80s melodic metal. I could go on just naming the songs but by this point you pretty much know what you’re getting. Although, I have to give Chris Black additional props for going deep for a cover of EUROPE’s “Memories”. Not many people will know that this is a cover tune but he performs it so convincingly that you might be forgiven to think it is a HIGH SPIRITS original. I love the original but Mr Black has updated it ever so slightly and the production is better than the EUROPE original.
Well, there you have it. After 2020’s very enjoyable “Hard to Stop”, HIGH SPIRITS return with another highly recommended album. “Safe on the Other Side” is packed (and I do mean packed) with songs that create all sorts of earworms for weeks. In these days of bands releasing traditional metal albums, HIGH SPIRITS is not only capturing the spirit of this type of metal but they are putting their own little spin on each and every track. My hope is that now that Covid is not as big an issue, he can bring his live band out on tour as the songs on “Safe on the Other Side” deserve the live treatment.