Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever Wide Eyes

It's rare that a band's debut album sounds as confident and self-assured as Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever's Hope Downs. To say that the first full-length from the Melbourne quintet improves on their buzz-building EPs from the last few years would be an understatement: the promise those early releases hinted at is fully realized here, with ten songs of urgent, passionate guitar pop that elicit warm memories of bands past, from the Go-Betweens' jangle to the charmingly lo-fi trappings of New Zealand's Flying Nun label. But don't mistake Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever for nostalgists: Hope Downs is the sound of a band finding its own collective voice. The hard-hitting debut album is a testament to Rolling Blackouts C.F.’s tight-knit and hard-working bonafides.

On their second record, Sideways to New Italy, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have turned their gaze inward, to their individual pasts and the places that inform them. From a town in regional Australia that serves as a living relic to how immigrants brought a sense of home to an alien place, to the familiar Mediterranean statues that dot the front lawns of the Melbourne suburbs where the band members live, the inspiration for the record came from the attempts people make at crafting utopia in their backyard (while knowing there is no such thing as a clean slate). In searching for something to hold onto in the turbulence, the guitar-pop five-piece has channelled their own sense of dislocation into an album that serves as a totem of home to take with them to stages all over the world.

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Nick Johnston is a Canadian guitarist and songwriter who records as a solo artist. As of 2019, he has released five solo records. His albums have featured the work of notable artists such as Paul Gilbert, Marco Minnemann, Guthrie Govan, and Bryan Beller. He has also played on songs by other artists including Intervals, Scale the Summit, Periphery, Polyphia, David Maxim Micic, and Mike Dawes. He has toured extensively with artists including Plini and David Maxim Micic. In May 2019 he went on a North American tour with Between the Buried and Me and The Contortionist. Johnston has cited musical influences such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eddie Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Jeff Beck, saying "I sound nothing like those guys, but I’m massively influenced by them".

Great debut album by Roman guitar/keyboard player Simone Cozzetto. The atmosphere is very modern and melancholic. The writing of Cozzetto is first class and the overall project is very progressive. Francesco Marino is a great lead singer and the orchestral and choir arrangements are perfect. The song "The Diamond" feature also a great guitar solo by Kee Marcello (ex-Europe). If you like Avantasia, Ayreon, Time Machine - it could be your CD, but "Wide Eyes" it is much more prog and less metal. Definitely a huge surprise!