Alberta Cross' new release "Broken Side Of Time" promises to be an excellent listen, if the single I reviewed a few weeks ago is anything to go by. The band who are based in New York are in the UK at the moment and embark on a short UK tour in November. I have been looking forward to getting this CD into my player for a few days now, and finally I have the time to give it a good listen. The five piece band were originally formed by Petter Ericson Stakee and Terry Wolfers. Sam Kearney, Austin Beede and Alec Higgins complete the line up. "Broken Side Of Time" is their first full length release following on from the mini album "The Thief and the Heartbreaker" released in April 2007 and EP "Leave Us Or Forgive Us" released in October of the same year.

Occasionally, you get a new record, perhaps from a favourite band, or maybe from a band you have only just discovered. You nervously hope it lived up to your expectations as you put it in the player, for the first listen. Five bars into the first song, a broad grin spreads across your face as you realise that the sounds you are listening too, far exceed the expectations you had. For me, it was like that with Iron Maiden's "Number Of The Beast" (ok, so that was vinyl, and a record deck), Queen's "Shear Heart Attack" (vinyl too!), Paul
Rodgers' "Now" and so it was with Alberta Cross' "Broken Side Of Time." Breaking with my usual reviewing technique of writing during the first listen, I sat back and listened to this offering in its entirety, before even opening up my notepad.

There are 10 tracks on the album, which were mixed at Electric Lady studios in New York. Actually, in their Myspace blog on May 12th, they intimated that there were going to be twelve songs on the album, I guess two didn't make it for one reason or another. Some of the songs have made it onto this "full" release from other releases, "The Thief and the Heartbreaker" and "Leave Us And Forgive Us." The vocals on the opening track 'Song Three Blues' are reminiscent of Neil Young, in fact, the whole ambience of the song is Neil Young and Crazy Horse. 'ATX' is possibly the most commercial song on the album, which is OK as it has after all been released as the first single.

'Old Man Chicago' conjures up images of blues being played in a smokey bar in the city. Well it's not quite that, but it comes close, however it has a Skynard "southern" quality to it. Perhaps then it's an exiled Chicago blues man, transported to the Louisiana swamps reminiscing. The Title Track 'Broken Side Of Time' provides the epic tune Alberta Cross have been promising. This really will be a show stopper live. It has all the ingredients of those immense Led Zeppelin songs of the seventies, think 'When The Levee Breaks' or 'Kashmir.' No, it doesn't sound like either of these two songs, but it ranks up there with them. 'Rise From The Shadows' is a moody track, the bass in particular has a haunting sound which wouldn't be out of place on a Black Sabbath song.

'The Thief And The Heartbreaker' is another giant of a song, as is 'Leave Us And Forgive Us.' Together these two songs capture all that is good in "Broken Side Of Time." They are first rate songs, which have probably been around for some time in all honesty. They have been chiselled to perfection over the course of their life and have
all the elements required to become classics in their own right, never mind comparing them to songs by the likes of Zeppelin, or, Sabbath, all the songs on this release can stand proud on their own merits.

This is top-drawer modern music, even if it wouldn't have sounded out of place in the mid to late seventies. It is very easy to listen to, and, although the vocals will remind you of Neil Young, the tunes here don't leave you with a sense of angst like Young often does. I will really have to make an effort to get over to Leeds and see them on the tour in November.