Better known in the early part of his career as an instrumental guitarist of considerable repute, Austrian native Milan Polak turned his musical landscape into a vocal one with 2007’s “Straight” album - A release that was praised in these very pages and still stands up 2 years on from original release.  However, some of his fan base were slightly unnerved by the more bluesy hard rock sound on that album, so his new vocal effort “Murphy’s Law” starts where its predecessor left off but injects a more metal vibe into its collection of commercially viable hard rock.  The accompanying press material states, “Murphy’s Law” is the perfect extension of its predecessor with a more modern sound, heavier, less bluesy, more guitar, more progressive, more choirs & backing vocals  and even some oriental sounds” – this perfectly captures the album’s sounds and influences.

To these ears the strongest improvement has been made in Milan’s vocals – by no means poor on its predecessor, on “Murphy’s Law” they sound much more self assured and with better strength and more interesting vocal melodies, no doubt a combination of hard work and live performances strengthening the vocal chords but one that also brings about a high quality.  Milan’s guitar prowess has never been in question and on the album he goes for a basic stripped down guitar sound but uses this to enhance nuances.  The album is powerful in all departments and extra praise must also go to Subway To Sally drummer Simon Michael who solid beats mixed with impressive and interesting fills power each track along nicely. 

As a batch of songs “Murphy’s Law” exceeds its predecessor offering a nice blend of rifforama coupled with strong vocal hooks as in the title track and “Inner Truth” which is home to a great chorus as well as a nice oriental vibe and superb drum track.   The modern rock approach in the fast paced “Sheeple” sounds convincing, dynamic and exciting whilst pure song writing class can be found in the mid-tempo “Torn” which deserves massive FM radio exposure as could the slightly heavier “Losing Me” with another excellent vocal arrangement.  Lyrical angst is represented nicely in “Wannabes” with Milan proclaiming “Wannabes, get the fuck away from me… they should be sent to therapy but get a show on MTV” – nuff said.  “No God” is another aggressive fast paced rocker, not too dissimilar in outlook to the good stuff heard on the latest Extreme release, whilst a similar funky vibe is found on “Fake”. “The Opposite Of Love” sees more big riffs stacked up whilst “Alien Nation” has a hint of “Superunknown” era Soundgarden to these ears – no bad thing.  Album closer “The Mystery Of Life” clocks in at over 6 and a half minutes and offers up several of the vibes heard elsewhere and ends the album in further fine style.

Its difficult to single out tracks for being the highlight of the album as there is much to enjoy on every track, and as a collection of tracks there is a very good feel to this album.  Milan Polak may not be a household name, but on the strength of “Murphy’s Law” deserves to be. Great song writing, great guitar, great musicianship and great vocals are the simplest way to sum it all up. “Murphy’s Law” represents a refreshing slice of quality modern rock that should give the market leaders something rather big to worry about.  Be sure to check out a.s.a.p.