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.