Wild America is the new band by Billy DiNapoli, American guitarist already seen with Aftermath and Fool’s Faith, and this “Gasoline” is their record debut by Kivel Records, an American independent label that has adopted the ” little but good ”, or selected exits but always of very good quality. Next to DiNapoli we find John Gallicano on bass, Jason Northrop on drums and Joe Labbadia on vocals, author also of all the pieces of the album, plus a series of collaborations which we will talk about later. The album was produced by the band and contains 10 songs of pure hard rock stars and stripes, a genre in which Americans always manage to have an extra gear, despite the countless attempts at emulation. This can be understood from the first notes of “Long Road”, in which Firehouse and Trixter peep out, to the following “Rockstar” in which there are keyboards played by Andrew Kadin who, along with Labbadia, wrote a large part of the songs on the record. Then it is impossible not to think of Danger Danger in “Is Anybody Listening” with the classic “oh-ohooo” that comes into your head immediately after the first listening, as I said before the overseas bands remain unbeatable in these things. The title track is the hardest piece of the record that once again has the strength in the refrain, in addition to the excellent work of DiNapoli who is a guitarist with great technique but at the same time with an enviable taste. One of the best moments of the album is certainly the ballad “Feet To The Fire” in which Labbadia duets with the voice of Heather Joseph accompanied by Kadin’s piano, in a remarkable emotional crescendo. The second part of the album fortunately does not see the quality of the pieces go down, in fact “Maybe Tonight” is absolutely one of my favorite songs on the record, thanks to a very apt melody and to the excellent work of DiNapoli both in rhythm and solo. The album closes with “” Til The End “, a song that in addition to having a touching text dedicated to a missing friend, reminded me of the best Firehouses both for the construction of the piece and for the singing of Labbadia, and which contains the yet another tears applause from DiNapoli. If you like the genre, “Gasoline” is certainly one of the best genre records released in this first part of 2019, in addition to having, in my humble opinion, one of the most successful covers of recent times. Link: https://myvalley.it/2019/04/wild-america-gasoline
