Vainglorious are four skinny, tattooed, leather-clad rock n’ roll demons from NYC – a town that breeds such creatures with alarming frequency – who have been churning out their signature brand of gloriously groovy arena rawk for half a decade now. Why it’s taken so long for ‘em to break out of the Noo Yawk Rock Mafia circuit is anyone’s guess, but on the basis of this three-song demo, I’d say their time to shine like crazy diamonds is drawing near. Ya see, the Vainglorious sound is driven by the impressively soulful Lenny Kravitz/Ian Astbury/Paul Rodgers-style vox of frontman George Grant, who croons and howls like a benevolent love god laying hands on his flock, and healing ‘em with wild gestures and knowing winks. Grant’s got one of the most born-to-rock ego star throats I’ve heard in ages, and in a better world, he might’ve been the Velvet Revolver dude, and perhaps they wouldn’t sound so much like tepid, b-side Stone Temple Pilots now. But I digress. Behind him, the band grinds out a wall of careening power-rock, melodic and chiming like the Cult one minute, dive-bombing and snake-handling like “Illusion” era GN’R the next. Of this trio of tunes, both “Shine” and “Gimmie Gauge” are loud, swaggering rockers with punchy choruses and swivel-hipped rhythms that threaten to break into full-on cowbell grooves at any second. There’s also a ‘power ballad’ on deck called “Sweet Salvation” (see, I told ya they had a Cult thing going on), that’s so righteously excessive in it’s hand-wringing, lighter waving sincerity that it sounds straight out of 1976, perhaps from a long-lost Vainglorious/Blue Oyster Cult/ Bad Company triple-bill bootleg. And in a cold, cynical world like this, that’s pretty cool, Jack.

If the idea of loud, chest-beating, irony-free throttle-rock appeals to you – and my guess is that it does – than ya oughta check Vainglorious out. They just might be your new favorite 70’s band. Better thirty years late than never, right?