ALBUM REVIEW "Circle of Life" from Victory
Review by Simon Frain
Victory are back with their latest album “Circle of Life” out on 13th September, and band with a career spanning four decades that is still able to put out consistently good music and tour the world, deserves recognition from anyone and hopefully “Circle of Life” will be the refresh, and catalyst for that.
German hard-rockers Victory originally formed in 1984 and after signing for CBS Records broke into the US market successfully alongside countrymen Scorpion and Helloween. Various personal projects led to the band calling it a day in the late 90’s.
But, 2002 saw a reunion and Victory have since released four studio albums, with “Circle of Life”, due out 13th September 2024 being the fifth, and 14th overall. What’s striking to me is that when I look at what hard rock and metal bands from the golden era of the 80s are up to today, its hard to look past the swathes of bands that are still pushing and selling their old material, marketing their tours as anniversary shows or staying relevant by licencing out their biggest hits to TV shows and advertising.
Refreshingly, Victory are very much the antithesis of this and pride themselves on being an active band. Their online presence is focused on what they are doing now, not what they were doing 35 years ago with their Spotify artists page only hosting the most recent 4 records and I’m here for it. It’s not ‘here look what we have done’ but ‘look what we are doing!’
Founding member and lead guitarist Herman Frank describes Circle of Life as “even more grown-up and mature than its predecessor, we’ve taken the new songs to a whole new level in every respect”. Victory’s current line-up consists of Herman Frank (Lead guitar), Gianni Pontillo (Vocals), Mike Pesin (Rhythm guitar), Malte Frederik Burkert (Bass) and Michael Stein (Drums).
“Circle of Life” starts with Tonight We Rock. No slow build, not easing us in gently, just a simple trashy hi-hat count leading into a filthy downtuned riffage over some half time drums before the rest of the band crash in and the pace picks up with a quick guitar lead. Pontillo hasn’t even picked his mic up yet and my heads nodding and my foot’s tapping.
As soon as the powerhouse vocals come in, I instantly know what this band are about. Oozing with 80s sleaze and attitude whilst also maintaining a sleek, modern and technically brilliant performance, Tonight We Rock is essentially a four minute rock and roll show. Its got riffs that I defy anybody to sit still to, a massive, fist pumping chorus and some excellent lead work. I can’t help but feel this song was written to be a live show opener.
Next up is American Girl, a surprising change of page this early on in the record with a slower and more stripped back second song rather than sticking to the tried and tested ‘stick the hardest, fastest three tracks at the start and slip the slow ones in the middle’. A welcome change however, the song is great. It’s another that I feel will be a mainstay of Victory’s live set for years to come with its call and response chorus which is absolutely begging for a venue full of people to be shouting it back.
Count On Me is next up. We’re back full throttle with a high-octane intro. Riffs dripping in swagger and drums being hit like they owe Michael Stein money! This is a really fun track that needs to be played loud to fully appreciate. It’s one of them that just makes you want to plug a Les Paul into a Marshall stack, turn it up and ignore the rest of the world for a while.
Surrender My Heart is a slower, anthemic, Dio-esque crowd pleaser for sure. The first thing I notice with this song is how good the bass sounds. Fat, full and raspy – Burkert is the engine behind this song for me, with the guitars and vocals playing off each other with the guitars almost playing a counter melody for large sections of the song, the bass is a constant force pushing everything forward. I did find the guitar solo in Surrender to be a little jarring. Don’t get me wrong it’s a technically brilliant piece, but its perhaps the only part of the album that I feel could have been dialled back a little.
Moonlit Sky….. and what a great track this is and for me !!! I would pin this as the stand out track on the album. Its probably one of the least aggressive songs on “Circle of Life” but it has everything that a great rock single needs. Its accessible, technically great, catchy and memorable. By the second chorus on my first listen I was singing along without even realising it. In my opinion, Moonlit Sky should be a single.
We pick the pace back up now with the seventh track Falling. Killer intro with simple guitar chords ringing out over a back beat and staccato bass line. Victory’s rhythm section I so tight they could be welded together. Another powerful singable chorus which invites a sing along.
My favourite track so far is Money where Victory’s slick rhythm section shines again with the guitars flicking between teeth rattling, palm muted balls out riffing… to melodic, soaring harmonised passages which complement and elevate Pontillo’s vocals. Every drum beat, riff, lick and the delivery of every syllable in this track is deliberate and it pays off. We are also treated to several guitar solos. The whole track is just so over the top and I’m here for it.
Reason To Love is slower, more reserved number which shows off the vocal prowess of Pontillo well before we end things with the final song – Virtual Sin which very much ends things how we started, with another adrenaline fuelled head banger. This is one of them songs where half of the audience spill their beer by the end of the first chorus and the other half lost their during the intro. A full pelt rock and roll banger with guitar work that would make Maiden nervous. What I love most about this being the final track is the ending itself. There’s no fade out, no big indulgent outro, just a cold, dead stop. It makes a statement for the record as a whole and says ‘ We’re Victory, this is what we do, take it or leave it’… Intentional or not it’s a great ending to what has been an enjoyable record.
“Circle of Life” is a well through out hard rock album which does exactly what it needs to in getting you moving whilst adding 10 more arrows to the quiver of their live set.
There’s no new ground being broken but when your songs are this catchy does there need to be? There’s good reason that the electric guitar hasn’t changed much in the past 70 years!
The production is very clean and crisp. I admit it’s perhaps a little too clean and polished for my usual taste in a hard rock record however in the context of the songs on offer it does work well. That said, there are moments where I feel if the guitars were left to ring our a little longer, or some feedback crept in then the songs would have benefitted.
LiveWire Score: 8/10
“Circle of Life” is out on 13th September via AFM Records and is available to pre-order / pre-save now HERE.
