Avalanche Ft Stephanie Krowka - Ring Around The Moon

Hear The Track Here

Those readers with two brains will remember when we first met vocalist Stephanie Krowka, ably backed up by major rockers Avalanche. I reviewed Deeply (August 2007) and absolutely loved it, class rock of the first order and a vocalist worth cherishing too. Mind you, there have only been a couple of tracks since then so it's nice to see a brand new one appear this month. Given the musicians involved, obviously quality is not going to be a problem, all of these guys are experienced, seasoned professionals, backed by a superbly able production capacity. Finally polished off by David Pendragon, you can bet - even before you hear it - that this is going to be one track worth hearing, regardless of your musical preference. For my money too, Stephanie has always been able to fit neatly in Avalanche's sphere of rock without taking them too far out of their comfort zone.

Ring Around The Moon was originally written by Stephanie, tweaked by Mike Foster and lo, a new track is born. A track, mind, that springs out of the speakers and licks your face within the first two bars so be careful of that two week old puppy exuberance. It's an indication of the good time rock fest you are about to chug down your earholes and if it doesn't affect you within the instant you are officially dead and not into music any more. See, the very, very best thing about anything Mike Foster, Mark and Barry Easton do is that it is going to rock like no other. Now I love Avalanche to death, definitely my favourite rock band but when you add Stephanie into the mix as bassist and vocalist, it somehow acquires extra bite - and I NEVER thought I'd write that about Avalanche.

As I mentioned in my review of Deeply, genuine rock voices - especially female - are hard to come by and Stephanie fills that bill perfectly, her tone and phrasing perfectly timed, delivering a beautiful song in the process. I still can't put my finger on who Stephanie reminds of, a problem I have had with her in the past, but I keep thinking of Suzi Quatro for some reason but that may well be me being my usual delusional self. Whatever it is, it works and works a treat. Like Deeply, Ring Around The Moon is a track from Stephanie's upcoming debut EP and with credentials like this, it's hardly likely to go wrong. Mind you, for gearheads like myself, all paled into insignificance when Mike Foster fired up some awesome Eventide Harmonizer (everybody shout D-R-O-O-L!!) licks that scorched your ears off as a parting gesture. A fitting end to a standout rock track of the first order.

MUST HAVE rock.