For those who don't know who David Coverdale is, he was the lead singer for Deep Purple during the '70s and then the frontman of his own band, Whitesnake.He also collaborated with Jimmy Page in what became known as Coverdale/Page, which was a short gig but it got him out of his hiatus and back to Whitesnake.After what was supposed to be his solo album but got released as another Whitesnake album (Restless Heart) Coverdale again turned his back at music.After a three year break, he returns with his first solo album in 22 years.Into the Light.
The album starts with a short instrumental which tries to embody a rebrith, a new beginning if you will.As Coverdale himself stated: "The whole premise of my new record, Into The Light, is about coming out of what I felt was a dark period."The song bleeds into the next one and I can't help but think about Led Zeppelin's 'No Quarter' every time I hear it's riff, River Song that is.I find it weird that this is the first song on the album considering is 7 minutes long, however it is quite an interesting piece and one of the few gems on this album.Even though it's long and it could become repetitive you'll have to brace yourself because there are more songs that have this 'feature' and may not be that interesting in the first place.Also the intro on 'She gives me' reminds me a lot of 'Pride and Joy' from the album he did with Jimmy Page.Not copying anything but the concept really makes me think of that song, unfortunately here I think the song never takes off, which is weird because most songs have an 'explosion', a bombastic moment where the songs erupts.It's not that good in every song, although sometimes it works, but here it kinda falls flat.
I find the guitar work on the whole album really interesting.There's always a thing that catches my attention, there's a melody over the riffs and there's always something happening.Coverdale's voice is really soothing on the mellow songs and there are some harmonies going on that have a great impact on some songs like 'River song' or 'Wherever you may go'.The whole album doesn't really explore enough however it manages to build some really strong melodies and hard-hitting riffs.So where does this album go wrong? Well, the fact that every songs drags a lot doesn't really help.The whole thing revolves around the subject of love, which is fine by me, but it could become really repetitive and at some point it becomes annoying hearing pretty much the same thing said with different words.
I'm not really a positive person but sometimes I try to look on the good side of things.If you look past the fact that the chorus on many songs is repeated until it's not even funny anymore and the fact that some lyrics are as simple as A-B-C you'll see that the melody lines really help you ignore all the stuff you could and you would dislike about this album.In the end 'Into the Light' it's like an action movie that forgets the plot after 20 minutes and adds a lot of explosions to make it interesting.What I'm trying to say is that the album is 'mindless fun'.Take it as it is.The songs are catchy and a lot of them uplifting.If you're gonna overthink it you're not gonna be able to enjoy this record but you can't deny the fact that it has a few gems.
Highlights:
River Song
Midnight Blue
Wherever You May Go
