Music: Final Gravity: Final Gravity

Our Take

Listening to Final Gravity’s self titled debut is like taking a journey back in time. When one listens to their material, it immediately comes off as being heavily inspired by 60’s/70’s hard rock and progressive rock. But although these guys are definitely retro sounding, this doesn’t mean that their material seems stale or dated as there is quite a bit of variety and a few modern touches on occasion. And while the sheer number of tracks causes this effort to drag, overall Final Gravity is off to a good start.

What I really like about Final Gravity is that their instrumentals are equally influenced by progressive and hard rock, but don’t always try to integrate both of these styles into every single track. While some bands have been content just to merge the two together and create an album full of similar sounding songs, the instrumentalists here have attempted to add a bit more variety. There are tracks that are full on prog while others seem to have been more inspired by Led Zeppelin and other classic hard rock acts. However, the main issue with this disc is that there are just too many songs to choose from. This album has a whopping fourteen tracks, and while it is great to see that Final Gravity is trying to offer their listeners plenty to choose from not every moment stands out and as a result the album does drag. This isn’t that big of an issue, but it does hold the band back slightly.

Lead vocalist Bill Moore has a hell of a voice, and he makes good use of it throughout the band’s debut. His main style is higher pitched and very powerful, not unlike some of the better progressive rock vocalists from back in the 60’s and 70’s. However, there are also songs where Moore adopts a lower pitched style and is also backed by other members from the group. This ends up working very well, as Moore demonstrates on every song that he has the range and energy needed to pull it off. Although the instrumentals do drag occasionally, the vocals always feel fresh and does help the band overcome some of their other issues.

I don’t mind the fact that Final Gravity has written fourteen tracks for their debut, but not all of them stand out enough to keep me hooked for the album’s entirety. Because of this they aren’t quite as memorable as one might hope, but there are enough moments that are sure to please. Though I have a feeling that they will become better with time, for now these guys are still good enough to be worth checking out so give them a shot.

http://www.myspace.com/finalgravity

Chris Dahlberg
October 15, 2009