Any temptation you might feel to smirk at the Morning After’s 80s glam/metal pastiche withers in the face of their relentless enthusiasm.
They brazenly introduce each element of their sound separately on the opening track – glistening guitars, ball-crushingly high harmonies and predictable but infectious hooks – before cranking the faders up to 11 and letting rip, and there’s as much Def Leppard and Iron Maiden in the mix as there is Sweet and Queen.
For six tracks the band are living the dream. The cracks appear when they try to jam two incompatible songs into one 10-minute epic. The façade wavers and a couple of tracks later there’s an inappropriate outburst of hardcore.
The last three songs – Nightmare Planet, Seasons and I Walk With Giants – sound curiously incomplete.
