Cats In Space joyfully tramp through the trad-rock tropes on Atlantis

Atlantis is the supremely crafted fourth studio album from rock classicists Cats In Space

By Johnny Sharp
( Classic Rock )
published
Cats In Space: Atlantis
(Image: © Harmony Factory)

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With a band name like that, you’re not asking to be taken hugely seriously. But respect is due for the dedication shown by Cats In Space in rekindling the spirit of a golden age of rock. 

Their fourth studio album in five years sends reference points tumbling out of the speakers: the Saxon-ish riff of Dive!; the Lizzy-duels-with-Queen twin guitars and Darkness-does-Purple falsetto from new frontman Damien Edwards on Spaceship Superstar; Sunday Best’s neat ELO-isms; Listen To The Radio’s pearls of AOR bliss.

Elsewhere, Can’t Wait For Tomorrow is a stirring, phones-aloft ballad that suggests Cats In Space are reaching a new peak of their powers. 

There’s also a very 21st-century sardonic lyrical edge to Revolution (referring to ‘a monkey in the white house’ and the ‘deadly devil in the air’) and I Fell Out Of Love With Rock’n’Roll. The latter tune, however, seems to disprove its title through the sheer joy of its lusty synthesis of skilfully turned trad-rock tropes.

Johnny Sharp
Johnny Sharp

Johnny is a regular contributor to Prog and Classic Rock magazines, both online and in print. Johnny is a highly experienced and versatile music writer whose tastes range from prog and hard rock to R’n’B, funk, folk and blues. He has written about music professionally for 30 years, surviving the Britpop wars at the NME in the 90s (under the hard-to-shake teenage nickname Johnny Cigarettes) before branching out to newspapers such as The Guardian and The Independent and magazines such as Uncut, Record Collector and, of course, Prog and Classic Rock.