Review Summary: Gentlemans Pistols are on fire! At Her Majesty's Pleasure recaptures 1970s heavy rock with its effective fusion of pugnacious rock anthems, slick groove machines and bluesy slow burners.
The Gentlemans Pistols is one of these acts whose major aim is to bring the 1970s-styled hard rock back to the masses. The Leeds, UK-based foursome's highly anticipated sophomore disc totally succeeds in this respect.
At Her Majesty's Pleasure defines how a proper retro-rock album should sound like without any trace of being dated or archaic. The band excels in writing upbeat rock'n'roll songs which are highly inspired by the likes of Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple and Kiss to name a few. Every bit of their music feels overbearingly familiar, yet it's impossible to defy the swagger and unadulterated energy the band's going for in their laid-back presentation.
In fact, the album's chief selling point is how exceedingly fun to listen to the music is. That's often the case when the songs revolve around playful blues-inspired grooves, but Gentlemans Pistols back this approach up with top-notch songwriting that prevents the record from being a disposable affair. The opening track, “Living In Sin Again,” bursts with smooth transitions between dueling twin guitar leads being the strong foundation for the tight rhythm section and robust vocals. The act manages to retain this high level of song craft throughout, which makes for the most consistently excellent retro-rock album of the last several years.
The supremacy that Gentlemans Pistols have over other similar bands stems from their ability to make the compositions sound refreshing due to many adventurous progressions. While spaced-out and highly psychedelic “Into The Haze” sports a surprisingly high-octane section in its fabulous bridge, epic “Lethal Woman” ends with a keys-laden, lofty climax. The band also effectively strikes a balance between pugnacious rock anthems (“Comfortably Crazy,” “Your Majesty”), slick groove machines (“Some Girls Don't Know What's Good For Them,” “Sherman Tank”) and bluesy slow burners (“Midnight Crawler,” “Into The Haze”). This diversity doesn't affect the songs which are both aptly constructed and supremely melodic, just as the rock music used to be back in the good old days.
Despite an ounce of over-repetitiveness showing here and there in the riff construction,
At Her Majesty's Pleasure presents a slick approach to old-school, 1970s-influenced heavy rock. Gentlemans Pistols recapture every addictive aspect of this kind of music and create an ultra fun, ballsy record that just needs to be heard by all rock fans regardless of their age.
