Michael Catton – ‘Point of No Return’

(Mighty Music)

‘Point Of No Return’ is the debut solo album from former Tainted Lady frontman Michael Catton. It’s an album with a strong retro vibe to it on which Catton and guitarist Soren Andersen pay homage to the stadium rockers of the Eighties, with influences apparent in abundance throughout the album’s runtime. It never lands too heavily into imitation giving these songs a fresh take on a familiar sound. Catton’s brother Chris also features on the album providing occasional Keyboards, who many will know from the rather excellent Boys from Heaven!

It’s a strong and classy album which features some tremendously strong vocals and indelible and energising guitar riffs. It’s heavily influenced by the Melodic Hard Rock sound of the Eighties but it would be remiss of me not to mention there is also touches of AOR in the song writing mix. These songs are stadium rousing rockers with massive guitar riffs and even bigger choruses. Andersen and Catton certainly make a perfect musical partnership who seem to complement each other’s talents at every turn.

I love that they fully embrace the commercial aspects of the Eighties rock scene and create an incredibly catchy album which is easily accessible and full to the brim with potential radio hit nuggets. Although there is a vast array of influences, I think this most obvious and one of the first to click with me was Whitesnake, pre and post ‘1987’ – you know those swaggering chunky guitar riffs coupled with incredibly memorable choruses.

Catton shows a lot of versatility in his vocals as he adds touches of his influences on many songs. You can hear some Coverdale swagger on the more obvious Snake tunes, but you also get elements of Steve Perry in some of his soaring moments. His voice often reminds me of someone very famous in Melodic Hard Rock circles but I couldn’t quite remember who it was off the top of my head. After much head scratching, I’m pretty sure it’s Tesla’s Jeff Keith, but even if I’m not quite right he definitely has elements of Keith in his style.

‘Point Of No Return’ is an easy collection of songs to like and I thoroughly enjoy it and I can heartily recommend it to fans of Eighties stadium rock. It’s the sort of album that needs playing loud and demands you sing along and it’s a great tribute to a truly great era of Rock N Roll.

9/10

Essential Track - 'Hearts In Danger'

Review by Woody