‘Cherrie’ kicks off the NOBODY’S FOOL’s fourth album with an effects-drenched guitar tone that sounds alright at the start, but when it’s kept up for the entire song, it turns what could be a neat introduction to the band into a something the trained ear has to struggle to “listen past” in getting to the meat of an otherwise-decent opening. Things seem to be reined in a bit more on ‘So Wrong’, and we’re able to see NOBODY’S FOOL has some chops, and know the ‘80s Sunset Strip sound well, ticking all the boxes. Clean, higher-register vocals, blue collar rhythm section, and solo work that tosses in just enough C.C. DeVille flash without losing sight of the song.

There’s something a bit Klaus Meine-like in the vocalist’s delivery, and actually ‘Time’ is very, very mid-‘80s SCORPIONS in influence, but a good bit rougher around the edges. In ‘Call It Love’, I’m back to wishing the guitarist would experiment with tones other than the one he seems to really, really dig, as it could add another dimension to the quartet’s sound. Still and all, the song holds up, and bonus points for rhyming “20 quid” with “moment of bliss” and “come to this”. What would an album like Time be without a power ballad, and here we have ‘Cry For Me’. I’d really like the singer here to have hung out a bit in the higher range, as he’s proven he has one earlier, at times sounding like Empire-era Geoff Tate when he does; not stratospheric, but definitely up there.

‘On The Road’ moves into heavier territory, almost reminiscent of that fateful time in the early ‘90s when the hair/melodic metal bands realized grunge and “alternative” were kicking their asses, but it works really well here, and is probably the song on Time where the band gels best, everything in exactly the right place, and on the edge of creating its own identity. Closing with a supercharged and impressive run-through of ‘You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’’, NOBODY’S FOOL put their own stamp on a song that’s been done to bloody death, something not at all easy to do.

I’d love to see these fellas dig a bit more into themselves to not only revive but rebirth this sound, as it’s clear they have a burning passion for the most recent time in music when the Big Rock Show was king, before everybody started dressing like lumberjacks and looking at their shoes on stage. Time is circular, and I’d like nothing better than for bands like NOBODY’S FOOL to make it theirs again.
Review By: Lord Randall

NOBODY’S FOOL
Time
Battlegod Productions