Step Into the Light

Album Review

Todd Royce (aka Todd Morton) hails from North Berwick, ME, and issues a solid and professional blend of pop/blues from his power trio on this 11-track CD. Though they claim Cream as a major influence, that sound really only comes through on "What I Need," a direction that would be most welcome on future work. Royce's guitar and vocal style blend nicely with his lyrics and maintain a fine balance over the course of the 47 minutes. It's a well thought out and perfectly constructed project, as polished as the 12-page lyric booklet that accompanies the music. The artist calls these takes "eleven mini chapters" of an autobiography "that spans the ages of 19 and 27," put together with his brother, bassist Doug Morton. Interesting that Gary Cherone of Extreme is thanked in the liner notes, as the title track, "Step into the Light," is something that would have easily fit on one of Cherone's own albums with his former band. Maybe the strongest track here, it has an intriguing riff and borderline metal crunch. Powerful and well defined, the band has that groove Spirit and Savoy Brown were able to capture in their respective heydays. Impressive that three guys are generating all this, and that they are able to easily dip into different musical bags while maintaining their core sound. They resist the opportunity to overplay, and that restraint is the key to why this disc works so well.