Wings of Pegasus: Persistence

No matter how hard I try, I can't find the line-up for the "band" Wings Of Pegasus, with only singer/frontman/songwriter/probably everything else in the world Fil (presumably there was a shorted of P when he was named?) Henley credited anywhere. Not that there's a problem with that, as long as Persistence is good of course….. phew!

To be fair Persistence isn't "good", it's mighty fine, damn good and also more than pretty pleasing on the pleasometer scale of pleased. So what has Fil put together here? Well with the mighty Fil on guitars, there's a cool 80s vibe, while Fil on drums adds an oomph we haven't seen since "Wild" Mick Brown spent his days splitting up the fist fights of George Lynch and Don Dokken. Add the roar of a Leppard of Defness and the Jovi of JonBoning and you're some of the way to what Wings Of Pegasus aim towards the sun. However Fil (that's the singing Fil, of course) adds a real classy edge through vocals which sit somewhere between the Alias of Freddy Curci and the river crossing Styx of Dennis DeYoung. Suddenly the melodic hard rock is more A of the O and the R variety and in a way which oozes class and not cheese (well OK, a little cheese, but classy cheese you have to slice, not squeeze).

Being serious for a moment (aww, do we have to?) if more of the current crop of AOR bands took this sort of approach, we'd have far fewer cookie cutter acts happy to score the names of classic bands from the past from their album covers and write their monicker in its place in biro. Instead what WinOfPeg (isn't that a place in Canada?) mould are little nuggets of goodness which will not only provide a quick and tasty snack for the family, but also satisfaction for your stomach for some time to come as your craving for a chorus packed with hooks and sing along moments is fulfilled!

Oddly "Amelia" kicks things off (how very nice of her!) in an almost Broadway musical style, Fil (no not the one playing piano, the one singing) crooning in the most convincing of manners (although surprisingly there's a suggestion of the melody of the Pet Shop Boys hit "Always On My Mind" in there somewhere…?) before the guitars (very patiently waiting in the wings for a few minutes) crank the album into gear. And top gear at that, "Art Not Commerce" proving that Wings aren't just a rockin' outfit, they're a thinking band and to be fair the lyrics across the album are ear catching in a decidedly non-throw away way. "Greed" however, along with "Haunted" illustrates how talented Fil (on the six string) is, great riffs, superb solos and a more ballsy attack resulting in some serious Rawk of the Rowl variety and with a big silly grin on its face. Add in the Journey like pulsate of "Hero", the TNT explosion of slow followed by fast, followed by slow, followed by…. of "Percy Johnson" (oh, there's another great solo!) and, in this day of extreme, the decidedly un-metal "That's Metal To My Ears" and Persistence persists in being a joyous journey from inception to conception!

Can you ask for more? Ask Fil, he'll know!

Track Listing
1. Amelia
2. Art Not Commerce
3. Don't Cry
4. Greed
5. Haunted
6. Hero
7. Paris Nord
8. Percy Johnson
9. That's Metal (To My Ears)
10. Unwanted Stranger
11. Falling Down

Added: June 29th 2015
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Wings Of Pegasus online
Hits: 3405
Language: english

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