For only their second album release, Rose Hill Drive know what they’re doing. They’ve already toured with The Who, and the kind of confidence a band can have only after jamming with Pete Townsend comes through on this record. Moon Is The New Earth is a solid hard-rock album, featuring a bluesy flair and the psychedelic elements suggested by its spacey title.
Moon’s first four tracks are its clear highlights. Taken individually, there are no real clunkers on the record, but the middle of the album meshes together, unfortunately. Rose Hill Drive have shaped their music into something highly reminiscent of Led Zeppelin, but they’ve got their work cut out for them when it comes to fully developing their own sound–consistently writing songs distinct from not only those of their influences, but also from each other.
They managed to win me over again with the closing songs “I’m On to You” and “Always Waiting,” which restore the life the record boasted at its start, particularly the former, where the vocals take on a welcomed snarkiness.
The music is mature but not without a sense of humor, as in the cutely entreating “Do You Wanna Get High?”: “Do you wanna get high?/I think you might like it.” It’ll be interesting to see what they come up with next–hopefully something more than another acceptable foray into retro-rock.
In A Word: Promising
