The Switch - 'No Way Out'

Reviewed by Iain McArthur • 23 September 2025
Fancy a bit of retro-cinematic 80s AOR with lashings of keys and synths? You might not be familiar with the band name, but it comes with a quality guarantee kitemark as it has been written, produced and played on by Tom & James Martin – the creative force behind the best work of VEGA, ISSA (a Martin WAG), and the top melodic rock album of recent years; Nitrate’s ‘Feel the Heat’.

There is actually a concept running through the album. It is apparently meant to represent the soundtrack of a non-existent movie featuring a fictitious 80s rock band encountering bad guys on the road – even the album cover is done up as a VHS video sleeve. I didn’t actually get deep enough into the lyrics to follow any story, but instead, I just enjoyed it as a fine selection of vintage AOR, done in a style that evokes good and bad memories of 80s movies and hairbands, leg warmers and high-cut leotards (or is that just me fixating on Jamie Lee Curtis in ‘Perfect’ again!!)

One of the focus tracks is opener ‘Danger on the Loose’ and it really hits a sweet spot with exquisite vocals from Bobby John. He’s a singer-for-hire from Montreal, Canada and does an impressive job – he is really excellent throughout. The Martins have also assimilated ‘The Borg’ for bass duties; that’s Dennis ‘Butabi’ Borg of classy Scandi-rockers Cruzh.



‘Play the Game’ has a ‘Miami Vice’ feel and there are some other cracking tracks like ‘One Night with You’, ‘Young Gun’ and ‘No Way Out’ – the latter also the title of a fine Kevin Costner film from 1987 featuring a memorable love scene in the back of a limo touring the Washington DC monuments.


The vocals are great on this album and there are some very fine guitar and bass parts too, not to mention electronic drums and saxophone sounds, but this is very definitely a keyboard-based album. It is absolutely dripping with synths and that places it firmly in it’s target era – in fact, fans of synthwave bands like LeBrock will love this too.


Overall, this is a very strong offering. The “niche” concept makes it just a bit different from your bog-standard contemporary AOR and anything from the Martins is always going to be worth checking out – see the video for prime cut ‘Danger on the Loose’ below.

The Switch - "Danger On The Loose" - Official Video