BANG — Back With A Bang

If you haven’t heard of a rock group called Bang, that is hardly surprising. They were formed in 1969, played together until 1973 then disappeared for the next four decades. True, they did put out a couple of records in the early 2000s, but it wasn’t until August 2014 that they started playing live again, if setlist.fm is to be trusted. Now they are back, the two Franks were teenagers when they started playing together. Drummer Tony Diorio will be eighty this month, so time is clearly not on their side.

According to the press release put out by their marketing people and their own propaganda, they were or almost were America’s answer to Black Sabbath. In reality they are nothing like Black Sabbath, not the original line-up with the Madman of Ozz nor Mark II with the late great Ronnie Dio. Having said that, their new release Another Me, which was shipped from June 30, comes as a pleasant surprise. Not a hint of Sabbath about it, just nice melodic rock.

The album kicks off with the title track, which is somewhat introspective. This is followed by Broken Toys then Man Of God – the longest track on the album. Broken Toys has some excellent if short soloing while Man Of God is slow, mystical, and somewhat hypnotic.

Track 4 is Clouds, not to be confused with the classic Joni Mitchell song, nothing like it, but not a bad effort.

Clouds is followed by Two Angels which is more of the same but a track you need to listen to more than once to appreciate. Drone Pilot is followed by Tin Man, and the album is rounded off with This Night, another long track. Drone Pilot is notable for the vocal overlays. This Night is a slow, thoughtful track with a heavy bass line.

Another Me can be ordered on vinyl as well as streaming from this link, but check out their official website in any case.