Review: Jayler – Voices Unheard
Silver Lining Music – May 29th, 2026
Reviewer – Grant Foster
This West Midlands four piece’s recent profile is highly impressive.
A rake of high profile support slots in the U.K. and abroad that most young rock outfits would give their eye teeth for.
They certainly look the part. Snake skin hipped and bare chested. Remember those days? If only……..
The blurb that accompanies the album states, ‘’There’s a DNA and nod to classic British bands such as Led Zeppelin and Queen in the mix……’’
Right, let’s address the white elephant in the room here.
It’s not so much a nod to Zeppelin, as a full on Glasgow kiss style headbut! And I can’t see the Queen reference at all. Like Greta Van Fleet was to the USA, Jayler are to the UK.
Though the band are more straightforward in their delivery and don’t meander too much off the beaten track. Singer James definitely has the pipes in the style of Plant/Geddy Lee and the rest of the band, Tyler on guitar, Ricky on bass and Ed on drums, are no slouches either.
What it all comes down to is how you feel about a band who original songs apart, could easily double as a Zep tribute. Of course if you are a Zep disciple, then I’ve no doubt this will be a regular fixture on your sound system.
To get away with it, however, you need a set of strong songs. There’s no doubting the riffs on offer here. Nearly every number has that blues filled hard rolling rock guitar that you’d expect from Jimmy Page himself.
But a good song is also about the composition, the arrangement and having a hook, or something that keeps it in your subconscious for days on end. This is where, in my opinion the band need to work on.
There are hints and snippets of what this band have in their armoury. ‘Down Below‘ starts out firing, but seems to lose itself halfway through. ‘Riverboat Queen‘ has a neat chorus, ‘The Getaway‘ has almost a pop sensibility to it, ‘Bittersweet‘ is the token acoustic driven number, ‘Hate To See It End‘ reminds me in places of early Tesla (no bad thing), ‘The Rinsk‘ has some very cool guitar work in the second half.
The choruses in general need more lift. Dare I say backing vocals? The guitar riff here is king and no amount of James’ vocals can change that.
I’m not sure the production does them any favours either. The guitar, at least on my copy seems to be too low down in the mix and the bass sound isn’t as tight as it should be in a four piece.
Let’s put some context here though. This is their first album and given the road work they are undertaking, I’d be interested to see how they develop on their second album. An outside experienced head may help them no end.
I’m not writing Jayler off. Far from it and I think there may well be a platinum album down the road. Jayler should be commended for what they have produced at this early stage of their career, it just needs fine tuning in my opinion.
Unfortunately, the standards are high if you worship at the Zep altar.
Track Listing:
- Intro
- Down Below
- Riverboat Queen
- Need Your Love
- The Getaway
- Bittersweet
- Hate to See it End
- Over the Mountain
- Alectrona
- Lovemaker
- The Rinsk
Line-up:
Ricky Hodgkiss – Bass / Keys
Tyler Arrowsmith – Guitar
James Bartholomew – Vocals / Guitar
Ed Evans – Drums
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