THE ANSWER – New Horizon

Napalm Records, 30 September 2013 
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
8.5/10

Irish rock revivalists The Answer deliver the logical next step with their fourth studio album New Horizon, the culmination of all that has come before.

Beginning with a determined cry for salvation with the line ‘give me the strength to win’ in the title track, long haired singer Cormac Neeson lays out his plan to move life forward with just a little help. New Horizons beckon.

It’s an exciting opening gambit, but long term fans need not be concerned – musically New Horizon picks up where 2011’s Revival left off and doesn’t blaze any new trails.

Not that they’re needed when the band is producing such engaging, stadium-friendly anthems as Somebody Else, Call Yourself A Friend and Scream A Louder Love.

Talking of production, Toby Jepson, lead singer for Little Angels and stand in guy for Fastway and Gun, amongst others, twiddles the knobs with the band on this record and the results speak for themselves – it sounds huge, something that was a little lacking on it’s predescessor.

Spectacular is just that – a soaring and uplifting song, it is the apotheosis of everything The Answer is about.

Baby Kill Me features a riff time travelled forwards from the Seventies and yet another great chorus, whilst Concrete imbues a more modern metal crunch into the framework of what they do so well.

There’s no ‘boldly going where none have gone before’ on New Horizon, but The Answer have produced their best album since their 2006 debut, not to mention that the Storm Thorgerson cover – one of the last he designed before his untimely passing – is a doozy.

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www.theanswer.ie

Category: CD Reviews