ALBUM REVIEW: Earth To Grace – Massive Wagons
Lancaster’s best export, MASSIVE WAGONS are back for the first time since 2020 with their new album Earth To Grace. Every now and then we all need one of those bands that are just pure unadulterated fun and MASSIVE WAGONS fit into that profile perfectly. Their brand of hard rock/punk music has always brought a certain charm to them, you know what you’re going to get and that is pretty much a guaranteed good time all round. Earth To Grace adds to the band’s already stellar discography that is an all out romp.
As soon as you hit play, Earth To Grace goes from 0-100 almost instantly. Kick off proceedings with Sleep Forever, a hard rock track led by a wonderful rolling riff that makes you feel like you’re on a giant wave that’s smashing everything out of its way. Frontman Barry Mills’ vocals are as ever, in great form as they go alongside the huge riffs and wailing solos perfectly. The chugging guitar throughout adds to the song as it continues to build and build before reaching boiling point, reaching its crescendo in a huge and great blues sounding breakdown which will have you longing for the huge mosh pits this song will be the catalyst of live.
Missing On TV follows up and sees a more mature side to MASSIVE WAGONS as they tackle the themes of distrust against governments who lie to our faces by telling us there is no money to fix things but there is money to line their own back pockets and help themselves. Whilst we may not have THAT particular government in currently, it does make you wary about those we currently have in charge. A giant chorus to boot in this track gives it a great anthemic quality that is great fun to sing along. Following track, Free And Easy is a simple yet fun track which feels like it’s straight from an AC/DC album but with bearable vocals, the blues rock feel returns once more as it tells us to focus on the more simpler things in life rather than focusing on what you could have had. Yet again, fun and simple music to jump around to.
After cruising through at speed, Earth To Grace slows things down a little for the track Night Skies. A track that will be a nice lighters (or phones) in the air moment live is a nice and tender ballad-like moment that brings the album a little diversity which works perfectly in tandem with the hectic nature of the majority of its songs. The tenderness continues as MASSIVE WAGONS continue to show a more contemplative side to themselves with The Good Die Young, which in itself is one of the albums main highlights. Whilst its one of the more mainstream sounding tracks on the record, it serves as a great anthem whilst featuring emo royalty in the guise of HUNDRED REASONS frontman, Colin Doran. By the song’s end, you’ll be pumping your fist in the air along with the track. All We Got keeps up the anthemic nature of the album with a great punchy riff and simple chorus and goes hand in hand with Cool Like A Fox as they build the album back up to a faster pace after the slower section of songs.
Fun While It Lasted brings the album’s pace back up once again as we start to approach the end of Earth To Grace. It’s a fun and yet poignant track that those who have gone through a break up can easily relate as it recognises that a relationship had to come to an end but there’s no harm in looking back and reflecting on what was enjoyable about the experience. Whatever Makes You Happy helps us on our journey toward the album’s end. It has an almost sinister feel to its sound which once again adds a little bit of diversity to the album as it does a great job of building up to a huge ending full of excellent guitar solos.
Our penultimate track comes with Underdog, a song for all those who are well, the underdog. It’s a triumphant anthem for all those that are often looked over and offers a nice message that those are the people you’d always want on your side. As we finally reach Earth To Grace’s end, we are met with an incredible boisterous end. Rabbit Hole is a no holds barred finale that sees the album out in explosive style. A punk driven track that takes aim at all sorts of misinformation that we can fall foul to as we doom scroll each day. It’s a great way to see out the track with the swirling riffs once again returning to bookend the album and reminding us that MASSIVE WAGONS are just a whole lot of fun to listen to, the thought of seeing this track live is an exciting prospect as it conjures all manners of mosh and circle pits.
Overall, Earth To Grace is a great entry in the MASSIVE WAGONS discography, if you’ve got your hands on the bonus edition then you’ll even enjoy the bonus tracks that feature on the end, including a funny cowboy version of Free And Easy. Whilst it’s not the most sophisticated album you’ll listen to all year, it’s definitely one of the most fun you’ll have blaring into your ears. The band is able to balance a whole load of seriousness with some funny moments and bags of heart that you’ll enjoy massively. Bring on their UK tour later this month.
Rating: 7/10
Earth To Grace is out now via Earache Records.
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