Saints Trade
The Golden Cage

The Golden Cage could be a play on words and a reflection on our golden age, where modern life’s obligations and forced quest for wealth creates something of a cage for us. Vocalist Santi might be a word-player, don’t you think? It is the third album for the trio and the best they have done, albeit not if you look at the cover that hardly can be considered an improvement on the previous release. For an Italian singer I think Santi does English well, sure you can hear that he is from Italy but not as obvious as most and they formulate themselves relatively well in English, which is not always the case when it comes to Italian band – but that is part of the charm, and Italy is probably one of the nations that gives us the highest number of strong bands, Saints Trade is one of those bands.

Their melodic rock flows in a way that isn’t overly common, mostly there are small breaks between intros, verses and choruses, but for Saints Trade it progresses much smoother – that is not a small thing as things like that always bugs me even with the best bands. Here the verse often go into chorus seamlessly which aids the longevity of the album, add to that strong vocals and good variation as well as good production, and you realise that we have a good one here. The playing time is also very sensible, they have taken quite a leap forward since last time I wrote about them, they were good then too but far more exciting now.

Eleven strong tracks make this an album worth listening to, add a few really memorable ones like Double Trouble, Neverland and Casino Royale, and you have and album that stands out a bit. It is one of those albums that makes the day better, listen to it when driving to work and the day feels a little less gruesome. Double Trouble is one of the absolute best songs I have heard in 2022, and there have been some excellent songs this year so that probably says something of what this album has to offer. I know I will keep this; I usually don’t import the CDs to my iPod but this one I want to have there as this is one of these accessible albums that you can always play to improve your mood a bit. It may not be a timeless classic, but it is certainly enjoyable enough to play regularly.

Santi’s Trade has put together a great album, something that makes life in the golden cage a little more bearable. It is a positive album with good depth and longevity, well worth checking out for anyone who enjoys catchy rock music.

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