A Review of Velvet Chains’ Stunning New Rock Album ‘Icarus’

The Las Vegas band that formed in 2018, Velvet Chains, has been gaining international recognition in South America and Mexico and just launched their debut album entitled “Icarus.” This is a 10-track album is now available on all streaming platforms and includes the two singles “Tattooed” and “Strangelove.” The band is Jerry Quinlan as lead singer and playing rhythm guitar, Laurent Cassiano on lead guitar and backing vocals, Noelle Schertzer on the drums and Nils Goldschmidt on the bass.

The first single “Tattooed” had a special guest appearance of Guns N’ Roses guitarist Richard Fortus. The song was accompanied by a video directed by the experienced Dean Karr, who has worked with music giants such as Ozzy Osbourne, Velvet Revolver and Iron Maiden. The second single, “Strangelove,” kept the audience’s attention and both tracks got more than 150,000 streams in just a few days. 

The album also has guest appearances by Jeff Rouse on bass and Mike Squires on guitar; both are from Duff McKagan‘s LOADED and are on the catchy “Pass the Disease” which also has a lyric video. “Icarus” was written in partnership with multi-platinum composer Drew Lawrence and the recording took place in Las Vegas and Seattle. Sound engineering and mixing and mastering were done by Greg Williamson and Tristan Hardin respectively.

The lyrical content along with the musical quality is important for the band’s creative process. “Our goal was to write songs with important lyrics while covering different genres within Rock from the 90s to the 00s. You will find a bit of heavy rock, a bit of grunge, a bit of alternative rock, and much more on this album,” explains Nils, founder of the band. This band is modernizing rock music from different styles and blending a lot of the genres they play. Their influences include groups such as Guns N ‘Roses, Alice in Chains, and Pearl Jam among many more and the time-frame is the hard rock of the 90’s and 00’s.

Some of the standout tunes on this album include: “Burning City,” very hard rock and a driving drum beat, love this one. “Tattooed,” some intricate guitar work, provocative lyrics and accompanying video. For straight up rock, listen to “Pass the Disease,” great bass line in this one. “Strangelove” is probably the most commercial of the songs. “Flexing” is definitely punk-rock, loved this one, a personal favorite. “Sex Slave” is 80’s rock and “Gone” was a very modern rock song–stand out vocals and drums here.

Rock at Night says: “Loved this album and the different genres and styles. The technical musicianship of each band member is impeccable. Each song sounds different, expertly crafted and engineered. This band is getting a lot of attention right now and we are expecting a lot more to come. Icarus is a great modern rock album!”