Flavour Nurse
Flavour Nurse
(LovAnaverse Records)

Dramatic orchestra strains and a deep scary choir raises the drama of “Dystopian Galaxy” before it settles into the very Brian May-ian guitar opening of “Majesty,” as we get the one-two opening punch of UK’s concept rock group Flavour Nurse’s self-titled debut.

A self-proclaimed “entourage of misfit aliens from an alternate-universe,” Flavour Nurse is led by duo Gaius Black, singing, playing guitar, and managing the arrangements of these tunes, with Sobias Sheim singing backing vocals and playing bass. Raven Van Rijin adds guitar and Croon Jackson drums.

We get rising strings again on “Love is the Reason,” soon worming its way into another groovy guitar and drum track. I really like this one; there’s lots of space in the verses, a good guitar riff to hang your hat on, and Black isn’t trying so hard to sound so over-the-top scary.

“Heart Baby Love” sees the band forget the orchestra for some guitar picking into a great heavy beat, again allowing for a lot of space in the verses, as opposed to The Cult-like choruses here.

“Side Effects” is another highlight here for me, a solid ballad where I could finally really hear Sheim’s bass. There are some great guitar-bending moments along the way. On “Eleven of Fire,” again, we get a solid airing of Sheim’s playing as the tune wraps up the concept here. Again, there is a solid drive to this heady last brew, that same mix of light and shade that pretty much serves the band perfectly throughout.