ALBUM REVIEW: Hombres – GUN

GUN are a band that have seen and done it all. They’ve climbed to the highest highs achieving commercial and critical success, before breaking up, going through line-up changes, and releasing material that doesn’t hold a candle to their peak. So does that mean the quintet is jaded and struggling to recapture the old magic a few months shy of the 35th anniversary of their debut album? Not even slightly. If anything, Hombres proves totally the opposite.

The album opens with its lead single All Fired Up, which is simply everything that a GUN single should be. It flies by at a cracking pace, the chorus sticks in the listener’s head and the guitar solo is a thing of roaring beauty. The track is a nod to the pent-up frustrations of lockdown, with lead singer Dante Gizzi describing it as “an artistic release of all that built-up energy!“. Reader, he is not wrong.

The tempo drops slightly for Boys Don’t Cry but the stunning harmonies and towering guitar solo make it every bit as memorable as the opener. Gizzi swaggers through the verses before floating through the chorus like a grittier Richard Ashcroft. The ebbs and flows of the vocals carry through the album as a whole with the thunderous arrival of Take Me Back Home.

Fake Life has more than a hint of glam rock, and that’s far from a bad thing. It doesn’t have the instant hit of other songs on the album, but it sways elegantly from start to finish. Although it’s buried beneath layers of GUN‘s characteristic style, there’s also more than a hint of T-REX DNA bubbling away. On Falling things really slow down for the first time, with a twinkling melody adding a melancholic atmosphere. However, the track builds to a grand chorus and meatier riff as it progresses. While the song is another high-class effort, the fade-out at the end is the worst thing on the album. It cuts off another epic guitar solo and doesn’t feel like it fits. On a record full of great artistic choices, this doesn’t make sense.

Hombres hits the turn for home with the beautifully bluesy You Are What I Need. The track briefly takes the album in a completely different direction, but any tangents with Gizzi channelling his inner Mick Jagger across grooves packed full of soul are more than welcome. Never Enough finds the band back on more familiar territory. A sparse riff lays the foundations through the verses before a typically robust chorus takes over. While the chugging Don’t Hide Your Fears is the closest thing to skippable on the album, it’s far from disappointing.

Lucky Guy is a stomping delight of a song and one of the strongest on the entire record. It’s triumphant, overflowing with energy, and an expression of thanks via disbelief that life really can be this good. The whole album is a jolt of excitement and a fired-up battle cry reminding the world that GUN are still at the top of their game. Album closer A Shift In Time is another dose of positivity and a rallying cry for unity. The gentle acoustic opening eventually gives way to a rousing chorus and guitar solo that reaches for the stars as Gizzi calls on everyone to “come together, stand tall.”

There are also three bonus tracks: Coming Back To You, Wrong To Be Right, and Pride. Any of the trio could have made the album proper, but the old-school rock n’ roll fun of Wrong To Be Right is impossible to ignore.

Hombres is proof that the fountain of youth does exist. Far from ‘maturing’ into mid-tempo rock obscurity, GUN‘s latest offering bursts into life with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face. But that’s not to say this is ten songs of a band trying to relive their misspent youth. This is a grown-up rock record, covering real-life issues and real-life hopes and dreams. Just in this case, the band is refusing to do it quietly.

Rating: 9/10

Hombres is set for release on April 12th via Cooking Vinyl. 

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