Katchafire - Legacy (Zojak World Wide)

A few personnel changes later it's now finally time for a new studio album though. The cover of 'Legacy', for which the band used an image of a waka taua, a beautifully decorated Maori war canoe, work of Hawaiian art historian Herb Kane who had a special interest in the maritime traditions of Hawaii and Polynesia, may look as if the band's getting ready to go to war with Babylon, the track list of the album contains mainly love tunes. Songs like 'One More Day' (featuring an excellent sax solo by James Ferguson) and 'Ain't Gona Give Up', a duet with Hawaiian singer Anuhea, or the poppy Justin Timberlake-like 'Wasted' weren't lost on yours truly, but we were more taken with conscious tracks like opener 'Fyah In The Trenches' or 'Living As 1', and especially 'I Can Feel It A Lot', the indisputable highlight of this album. An exception in the track list is the soulful '100', an emotional salute by brothers Logan and Jordan Bell and their father Grenville to their late mother and wife. Katchafire also seems to be under the spell of the once again very trendy talk box, as the gadget appears both in 'Walk With Me', a combination with Notis Heavyweight Rockaz, and in closing track 'Way Beyond', and gets a leading role in the aforementioned 'Living As 1'.