Von Groove - Drivin Off The Edge Of The World

1. Drivin Off The Edge Of The World
2. I Can't Find My Groove
3. South Of Zero
4. Stone Soldier
5. Slide
6. Blue Murder
7. Control
8. Jack The Riffer
9. Cold To You
10. I Found Heaven

Album Cover:

Total Playing Time: 42:56 m:s

Review date: 19/05/2000

Email: roswell@sympatico  

Having done a lighter album on "Test Of Faith", my initial impression of "Drivin...." was that the band went into the studio to record an more aggressive album and that their sense of melody got left at the studio door in their zest to toughen up. This impression lasted for quite a few listens and I actually took a break from listening to this for a while. The title of the second track, "I Can't Find My Groove", seemed to sum everything up.

The title track kicks of the album in a big Zeppelin-esque fashion ala Kingdom Come. I've already mentioned the second track, "I Can't Find My Groove", and once I dismissed it as a heap of annoying noise and got on with listening to the rest of the album my enjoyment increased tenfold. I often start playing this album at the third track onwards. "South Of Zero" is propelled along by a bluesy riff and this time they include a decent chorus. Having redeemed themselves on the previous track, "Stone Soldier", sees the album truly back on the rails. This big melodic rocker is precisely the type of music I love. "Slide", "Blue Murder" and "Control" keep the pace up, albeit not quite in as much style as "Stone Soldier". When a melodic hard rock band attempt an instrumental it is usually time to go out, have a piss, boil the kettle or whatever. However, in this case, having given it a cool title in "Jack The Riffer", Von Groove do a credible Rush impersonation and produce an amazingly good track that keeps you entertained throughout. Having displayed their Led Zep influence at the start, "Cold To You" shows a touch of Rainbow (Dio era arabesque meets Joe Lynn Turner commercial era). "I Found Heaven" closes the album with a straight forward melodic hard rocker.

Once "I Can't Find My Groove" is over and done with the band do in fact find their groove and the album settles down to become a good solid hard rock album. With the exception of "Stone Solder" the melody and the hooks got a little lost in the desire to toughen up the sound. The result is an album which you're going to, for the most part, enjoy listening to, but which maybe won't whisper "Play Me" in your ear quite as often as it should.