Yessssssss, another Investigator single to review. I love how this act delivers driven, intense “wintery” rock that doesn’t pigeon-hole itself in the instruments, orchestration or composition.

New single Tragedy is off the forthcoming EP Madness. This one covers a deeply emotive and polarising subject – the terrible and continuing crime of school shootings across the USA. The driving intensity is a hallmark of Adrian‘s songwriting and composition skills, and combined with Scott Seabright as producer, this song has captured the emotion it wanted to.

Speaking of illustrious twiddling desk maestros, Chris Chetland mastered this at Kog Studio. Investigator has its sights set on some great things, and is collaborating with the people who will provide the crampons and ropes to scale the heights. Jasper de Roos, former drummer of Autozamm, is also on board – as a permanent member now (big coup!) – just to add further weight to the intent.

It’s a hard rock number. Maybe surprisingly, the overall vibe, tone and the unconventionality of the general feel of the number, prompts me to compare Adrian to an incredibly diverse songwriter of many, many years in the business. I’m actually thinking – you won’t guess it before I say it – of Andy McCoy (real name Antti Hulkka), former lead guitar player with legendary Finnish Glam Punk band Hanoi Rocks, plus Iggy Pop and a whole raft of other big names. While Adrian‘s vocal is a clear tenor, not the gruff baritone of Hanoi Rocks vocalist Michael Monroe (real name Matti Fagerholm), the imaginative undertone to Investigator‘s new track hots me as in that left-field vein.

The guitars are nicely hard, and well layered. Some great effects harden the sound further, with the lead extrapolations and riffs being where I first clicked onto the Andy McCoy comparison. The bass and drums combo are tight as can be, and rich bass is countered by thundering drums that really shake the walls if you turn the volume up. It’s got a non-sweet but commercially viable melody too, given some lovely treatment by Adrian‘s vocal capability.

We’ve got a cool lyric vid that will be (hopefully) available on YouTube when the single is released on 5th July. that’s when you can get the audio on Spotify and others too. Yes, though – I have heard it already. Whaddaya think, I’m makin’ this up?

You’ll hear this on the Student Radio network, plus the regionals. I want it to get some love from Hauraki and The Rock too, because this is really cool and it rocks the foundations. Give it a listen on the 5th if you like your rock and you like it ever so sweetly avant-garde.