The Coronas

“Heroes or Ghosts”

• Grace Don’t Wait
• Make a Change
• San Diego Song
• Heroes or Ghosts
• The Talk
• The Great Divide
• I Choose Love
• Decision Time
• Filtho
• Real World
• The Joker
• Temporary Release

The Coronas manage to have their own sound in the densely populated world of the guitar-driven rock/pop band, which is in a large part due to their vocals, which is an odd blend of a stong voice that sobs the sentiment at you. Their sound overall puts me in mind of Live, but without the menace. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it allows you to listen to it far more often. On first listening, the CD sounds like a lovely bunch of very happy-go-lucky tracks but, on loser inspection, the upbeat feel is masking an undercurrent of melancholy in the lyrics. Tracks like The Talk or the title track Heroes or Ghosts are simply beautiful. If I have any quibble with this at all, it is that the songs all appear to be in and around the same note range, even in the same key, which lends a same-sameness, which travels from one track to the next. I don’t know if this is due to the vocal range of the lead singer or whether it is simply an act of chance but changing this could lead to a more interesting work next time around. But this could be just a step on a long journey. In short, I love their sound and love this album.

The boys are lined up for gigs all over the country over the next couple of months so, if you can catch them, do. They’re even better live.

The Coronas:

Danny O’Reilly

Graham Knox

Conor Egan

Dave McPhillips