Nitrate - 'FEEL THE HEAT' To be released on Friday 13th October 2023

You might want to start by watching the video for ‘All the Right Moves’. Within seconds, you’ve got cheerleaders, roller-bladers, beach volleyball and ladies in red swimsuits running in slo-mo, all set against wave after wave of synth rock and “woah-ohs”. It’s a tasty antidote to the post-Covid miserabilism that is still bringing down some bands’ lyrical output and a welcome return to the best Summer of your life. If you didn’t know you were back in 1980s territory before, the lyrical story of a young girl “losing her innocence in the heat of the night” will have you right back there quicker than a quantum leap.

There’s also another video featuring the big sound of ‘Wild in the City’ and it adds fast cars and pole dancing to the visual mix. It is smoother than a Hollywood wax and although it has a big, chunky modern sound, it is defiantly retro, and we’re definitely talking high-octane jet-ski rock rather than yacht rock here.

Nick Hogg’s Nitrate have been around since 2018, but they really upped their game on the ‘Renegade’ album in 2021 with the addition of Tom and James Martin from Vega and that gem of a singer Alexander Strandell from the vastly under-rated Art Nation and Crowne. They are all back for this one, with the Martins also on production duties and they’ve pulled out some big guns for additional support, including backing vocals from Paul Laine and Issa, a song co-written with Bob Mitchell (who wrote ‘The Flame’ for Cheap Trick), Richard Jacques on guitar, and Devilfire front-man Alex Cooper brought in to add some sparkle and drums.

All eleven tracks are a bit tasty, including a lovely duet between Alexander and Issa on ‘One Kiss (To Save My Heart) which was largely written by Issa’s husband James Martin. Strandell’s voice is spot-on throughout and particularly shines on ‘Stay’- a big Griffithsian power ballad that is so potent that there might just be a baby-boom in South Ayrshire if it makes it onto my Rockfiend colleague’s ‘special playlist’!

There are some big bangers on the album, not least the pulsating singalong of ‘Live Fast, Die Young’ which absolutely throbs with life and should also be released as a special Wales-only remix re-titled as ‘Live Fast, Dai Young’. Another massive “Woah-oh-oh” rocker is ‘Strike Like a Hurricane’. Unfortunately for me, my ageing and Oktoberfest-addled ears initially misheard the chorus as “she’s a striker like Harry Kane” and I can’t get either the hyper-catchy song or that picture of Harry in lederhosen out of my head!

This album definitely put a big smile on my face and, for my money, it has to be the best release from Frontiers so far this year. Check it out – it’s a toasty Winter warmer.