90%
The Neptune Power Federation is onto their sixth album of original material now and they just keep delivering the goods. Consistency is a difficult thing for any band to achieve but with this band it just seems to be second nature.
Those familiar with any of the NPF’s music will know exactly what’s going to come on Goodnight My Children: a wealth of instantly catchy songs fuelled by a deep love of 70s heavy rock. As is common with this band, the song cycle is built around a central theme extracted from the apparently inexhaustible wellspring of creative genius that is guitarist Inverted CruciFox’s mind – in this case a series of fractured fairy tales fleshed out more fully in the accompanying book tie-in (not reviewed here because we know it will be excellent). Of course Let Us Begin just rips straight out of the gate, with a ripping intro solo ahead of Screaming Loz coming in at full power immediately. One of the defining factors of the band, the power and range of her voice is truly astonishing and despite the talent surrounding her it’s unlikely the NPF could have developed in this form without her.
Twas a Lie folds in some Sunset Strip influences, splashes of stadium rock drama and even a cowbell; the next track builds from a long synth-y intro to an epic rocker full of multi-tracked vocals and huge guitars and their pop sensibility breaks the surface in Betrothed to the Serpent where, again, vocal multi-tracking has Loz backing herself up. And there’s hand claps, of course. Fox’ love of the ridiculous aspects of rock music – claps, cowbell, sometimes almost too much going on – is all part of the magic of every release and they’re all here too. Especially in Evermore. As always, there’s a ton of diversity on display too, from the (aforementioned) pop-laced rockers to haunting, slow building mini-epics…and guitar solos. Tons and tons of guitar solos.
38 minutes of musical ecstasy, Goodnight My Children is another triumph for rock and roll.
