From the land of the Taj Mahal, festivals, and yoga, comes the second album by Girish & the Chronicles. Summer European festivals, these guys are ready to rock! The rebirth of the 80s hard rock/glam metal has been happening for ten years, and GATC are like the relatives of GnR, Skid Row, Kix, Lynch Mob, and Warrant. ‘Rock the Highway’ is an upbeat Bon Jovi style rocker with a pleasing hook and melody to kick off the album, solo section is a little edgier. ‘Every Night Like Tonight’ puts some pressure on pedal in the spirit of old Faster Pussycat, Wildside, and Spread Eagle, given lead singer Girish Pradhan’s tone and aggressive delivery. Love the solo section, more whammy bar, tapping, and dive bombs, please. The ride out is great and punchy too. ‘Rock n Roll is Here To Stay’ is down and dirty, great bluesy crunch where the bass gets to be funky. Again, killer solo section, Suraz Sun, well thought out and phrased, cheers to his influences.

Piano in ‘The Distance Between’ makes for a solid radio ballad, while native guitars, keys, and percussion on ‘The Sikkimes Dream’ brings authenticity to home. ‘She’s Heavy Metal’ has LA sunset strip balls, as does ‘The Rebel’. Ninth track in, nice Deep Purple-ish keyboards in ‘Trapped Inside a Mirror’, second ballad ‘Wounded’ moody Tesla like. Vocals pull back on the edge for ‘Tears of the Phoenix’, but throughout the whole album Girish has a great Oni Logan/Robert Mason tone. Smooth romp to ‘Identity Crisis’ and love that Savatage piano ride out from the solo. Strangely the guitars have a warmer sound compared to the rest of the album?
Ten rockers, two ballads, Rock the Highway does just that. Put Girish & the Chronicles on the list with the other great new hard rock names: H.E.A.T., Crazy Lixx, Eclipse, Crashdiet, and Kissin' Dynamite.