Album Review — Unruly Child

Unruly Child — Big Blue World

Unruly Child has been around on and off since 1993. They have an interesting history that includes a stint with Kelly Hansen (Foreigner/Hurricane) on vocals and Ricky Phillips (Bad English/Styx) on bass. But the original band is back together which includes Marcie Free (formerly Mark Free) on vocals.

The band has released a live album and a studio album in the last couple of years and they just released another studio album, “Big Blue World”, in late August via Frontiers Records.

My first thought upon listening to the record is it’s very melodic. It has a similar sound to the post Perry Journey. Up front keyboards, big hooks, very polished. The first track, “Living In Someone Else’s Dream”, is the perfect example of this. It’s quite catchy if not totally original sounding.

“All Over The World” has a slightly more progressive rock sound at the start. Almost a little Yes sound at the very start, but it quickly moves to that more melodic sound.

“Breaking The Chains” starts off acoustic but kicks in half way through the song and is one of the better tracks on the record.

“The Harder They Will Fall” and “The Hard Way” are both a little more upbeat with a similar sound to the opening track.

Free sounds good and the album is well produced. My issue with the record is it doesn’t sound overly original. It kind of sounds like something that was released in the late 80s/early 90s. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I’m not sure there’s enough different here to warrant much attention.

Even though hard rock/metal is not on the forefront of the popular music scene, there are plenty of albums being released in the genre and something has to stand out in order to break through and be heard. I’m a huge fan of melodic rock bands like Journey and Survivor but if you are going to rely on big melodies and hooks, they better be great, and for me these songs aren’t quite there.

I’m sure fans of the band and Marcie Free fans will enjoy this record. It’s good, I just don’t think it will get many more listens for me going forward.

80 out of 100

Track Listing

1. Living In Someone Else’s Dream *
2. All Over The World
3. Dirty Little Girl
4. Breaking The Chains *
5. Are These Words Enough
6. Will We Give Up Today
7. Beneath A Steady Rain
8. The Harder They Will Fall *
9. Down And Dirty
10. The Hard Way *

*Best Songs