Album Review

The Body Rampant – Midnight Mayfair

• 15th Jul 2013

Midnight Mayfair is the debut album from Californian alternative rockers The Body Rampant, to be released on 15 July 2013. It’s a concept album – the story involves a badly wounded character in a forest who is lost in his own mind and close to death. Falling into a strange mental state he hallucinates, creating the town of Mayfair which is inhabited by all manner of strange creatures, as well as a mysterious beauty named Apparitia. Still with me?

The albums ten tracks each represent memories or stories from the character’s life, with assorted monsters and altered states of reality. Or possibly parallel universes. Or maybe he is travelling in time. It’s not altogether clear what is real and what is imaginary here. Remember that this is a band from Southern California who usually perform wearing goblin masks …

I’m not sure I fully get the concept or the story to be honest. So it’s probably just as well that the music sounds good. The approach is varied throughout, using different paces and sounds well to give an album that never settles into a routine. There’s great guitar work throughout, massive riffs and scintillating solos aplenty. The vocals range from the calm and melodic to almost hardcore screams, and are always passionate.

The opening Dirtnap feels like an overture, mainly slow but with bursts of energy that set the scene. Nightfall’s classic rock sound and standout track Storm Bandage’s massive anthemic chorus and great guitar solo make both good rock songs. Apparatia initially has a softer tone, the bass prominent while the closing Icarus gives some sort of feeling of resolution. The falling to earth image is clear, but does this mean that the character has returned to reality, or succumbed to death?

So how to sum up Midnight Mayfair? Different certainly. Strange perhaps. And definitely ambitious. But it works well, probably on two different levels. There is a theme and a story here, but there are also ten tracks of damned good rock music to enjoy. It’s certainly an innovative debut album from a band who clearly have talent and like to do things their own way.

Venue: Midnight Mayfair
Support Band: self