Cats In Space last album ‘Kickstart The Sun’ was one of the best albums I heard in 2022, and this is pretty well its equal. Guitarist Greg Hart shares, “After the success of our last double album, we knew we had to deliver something extraordinary. ‘Time Machine’ offers an upbeat, positive message with grandiose production and unexpected musical twists.” An unabashed ‘Rawk!’ album, they have never been scared of merging familiar riffs and styles into their own music and there are times that could be listening to The Who or Styx or even Queen, but this is original music and there is a really positive feel to it.
The band was formed in 2015 and has remained pretty well the same, with a current lineup of Damien Edwards – lead vocals / backing vocals, Greg Hart – guitars / backing vocals / synth, Steevi Bacon – drums / percussion / backing vocals, Dean Howard – guitars / backing vocals, Jeff Brown – bass guitar / backing vocals, Andy Stewart – piano / keyboards / synths, Mick Wilson – co-lead vocals/backing vocals and additional instrumentation. Only Damien Edwards is not an original member, and he has been with the band since 2019.
There is great theatricality about some of the songs and almost all are over-produced and excessive – but in a good way. It all adds to the enjoyment – no-one wanted to hear a stripped back ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ and this works in the same way that that classic did.
The melodies are strong and the lyrical quality is a long way from the standard fare – CIS write about things that affect us all rather than Rock Anthems, although there is plenty of the anthemic about songs such as ‘My Fathers Eyes’.
Cats In Space are happy being big and loud and colourful – much like Queen or Supertramp or Styx – and this is a stunner of an album because of it.
