In 2025, Canadian hard rock/metal veteran Ian Blurton released ‘Crimes of The City’, the second album to credit his band Future Now. With nods to Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult and 70s era Judas Priest, the album pitched itself very squarely in the direction of the older melodic metal fan, but with ten solid sounding tracks and no obvious filler, it was the kind of record that proved that old school sounds can still be very effective.
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IAN BLURTON’S FUTURE NOW – Crimes Of The City
Ian Blurton’s 2019 album ‘Signals Through The Flames’ presented nine tracks of well crafted melodic hard rock and metal. The performer’s old soul brought a classic sound to the fore, with tracks that took influence from Black Sabbath (‘The March of Mars’), Blue Oyster Cult (‘ICQ’), ‘The Cage’ era Tygers of Pan Tang, and most notably on album standout ‘Days Will Remain’, a hefty nod to the vintage sounds of Judas Priest from 1978.
‘Crimes of The City’, the second release under the band name Ian Blurton’s Future Now (following 2022’s ‘Second Skin’), owes a similar debt to various classic rock and metal influences, but if anything, is even more effective. Delivering ten riff filled numbers in a little over half an hour, it leaves nothing to chance and no room for obvious filler.