Anthony Sobak’s “A Little More Time”

Anthony Sobak’s ten song collection A Little More Time solidifies his status as one of modern hard rock’s foremost practitioners. Music aficionados pegging hard rock as a finished style would do well to open their ears to this focused and hard-hitting affair as Sobak and his musical cohorts serve notice it’s far from a dead issue. There’s a lot of traditional guitar-driven bluster scattered across the album, but there’s an equal balance of intelligent songcraft and lyrical acumen underlying these tunes as well.

He kicks things off with a fun salvo of arch-traditional hard rock, however. “Donna” even goes so far as opening the track with Sobak spelling out the song title for listeners, an ancient conceit of the form, and the high-octane musical attack that follows further riffs on familiar hard rock tropes in a distinctly idiosyncratic way.

The album’s title song “A Little More Time” gives notice, however, that Sobak is far from an one-note performer. It’s a song that explores adult themes about withstanding time’s inevitable march on our lives and the persistent desire to seize the day as much as possible while we still can. Anyone over the age of 30 will relate to this, but it has universal resonance. The guitar work, such an integral part of the opener, continues to impress. It’s more varied, as well, alternating between acoustic and electric with equal facility.

Acoustic strands are present in their follow-up as well. “All My Tears” does an exceptional job of blending the lighter textures with forceful electric guitar contributions. It’s a track that likewise highlights, like the title track, Sobak’s memorable voice. He’s a singer who invests every shred of his soul, without cliché, into each performance while approaching different songs with a distinctive spin. There’s ample familiarity in this song, but there’s more – there’s a robust commitment to communicating the secrets of his heart.

We’re thrust back into outright rock with the song “Together We’ll Find”. It has an anthemic aspect, as the title implies, and the brisk tempo crackles with energy from the outset. The introductory drums rush us into the song, and it doesn’t relent from there. Scintillating lead guitar puts a bright exclamation point on the track as well. “Like Heaven’s Wings” is another of Sobak’s personalized takes on the hard rock ballad. It isn’t cookie-cutter. He couples the song’s unbridled six-string energy with just the right amount of ethereal imagery that bears his unique signature.

“All Alone” is a pulverizing riff and rock track that doesn’t forego intelligence. Bulldozing listeners into glassy-eyed submission isn’t Sobak’s bag. He brings something personal to every tune and this is one of the most bracing combinations of his soul and physical musical attack included on A Little More Time. His sonic direction takes an interesting turn with “Help Me Be Complete”. It launches with a synth-heavy introduction before settling into a heavy and dramatic hard rock stomp that features one of the album’s most nakedly personal lyrics. Sobak shows an assortment of musical faces over the course of these ten songs and each of them has a satisfying effect. 

Michael Rand