A Distant Call - Sheer Mag

 Alright gang, before we get into it I have some questions for you to ponder:

1. What would happen if Judas Priest was a riot grrrl band?

2. What would happen if Motley Crue and The Go-Go's had a baby?

3. What would Cyndi Lauper sound like if she were in a punk rock band?

4. How do we revive 1987?

Good news, I have the answer to all 4 of the questions above. The answer? Sheer Mag.

Someone near and dear to me recently brought these guys (and gal) into my musical radar, and it was love at first listen. As many of my readers know, I am a big fan of all things punk, rock, and metal. And recently I had been on a massive female-singer binge. Well this record is an amalgamation of all those things. It's essentially riot grrrl punk rock metal salad, and that's a salad that even the most Ron Swanson of music listeners can get behind.

The record I'm talking about is A Distant Call, the sophomore record from Philadelphia punk/power pop band Sheer Mag. The album cover grabs you right away, and takes you back to the late 80s, as if you were flipping through Judas Priest records in your local shop. And the opening track doesn't fall far from the tree, either. "Steel Sharpens Steel" sounds as if a metal band wrote a punk song. Or a punk band wrote a metal song. And why is that? because one did. Them.

The tracks that follow mellow down from the high-octane opener, but that does not mean they lose their energy or their power by any means. "Blood From A Stone," "Chopping Block," and "The Killer" specifically stand out to me. Actually, after my first and second listen, it's still hard to point out one track that doesn't hold up among the rest. Writing this now I'm struggling to come up with a least favorite track.

Long story short, I am eternally grateful to the wonderful human being that brought this band into my radar. I regret the time I wasted not having heard this band before, and I look forward to the future to see where these guys (and gal) go from here. They're young, they're hungry, and they're just getting started.

A Distant Call - Sheer Mag

8 - 23 - 2019

1. Steel Sharpens Steel

2. Blood From a Stone

3. Unfound Manifest

4. Silver Line

5. Hardly To Blame

6. Cold Sword

7. Chopping Block

8. The Right Stuff

9. The Killer

10. Keep On Runnin'

Favorite Track: Steel Sharpens Steel

Least Favorite Track: Keep On Runnin'

Rating: 8.8