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Latest Review Summary
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| Terry Brock Diamond Blue | Frontiers Records FRCD 475 |
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This is melodic rock perfection. Terry Brock can do no wrong as a vocalist, his tone and emotional delivery is made for this kind of music and the pairing of Terry with guitarist/producer legend Mike Slamer is heaven indeed. We all know Slamer crafts his albums like a DaVinci masterpiece, with every note accounted for and delivered to make each melody shine on its own. And Terry brings songwriting skills few others posses, his lyrics are always memorable and his delivery is flawless whether it be rocking along or crooning a ballad. Diamond Blue is perhaps a little mellower than anticipated, but overall a little more uptempo than the Slamer/Brock album that preceded this. But that's not a negative point – this is such an appealing album that tempo just doesn't enter into it. And despite featuring the same team as that album, this solo album does have its own feel. The opening title track Diamond Blue is simply melodic bliss, with a killer AOR chorus, soaring guitar solo and upbeat tempo. Perfection. This is a blueprint release for how AOR should be delivered in 2010. Old school harmonies, but a sharp, contemporary “classic” production. It's You and Jessie's Gone are wondrous AOR gems with soaring choruses and emotive guitar playing and an all-powerful rhythm section. That's what I really love about Slamer productions – the rhythm section simply snaps into place and really drives the songs. No More Mr. Nice Guy is a slamming hard rocker with a menacing tone. Cool change of pace to the album, then it's a 180 degree turn for the soft and soulful ballad The Rain. Beautiful vocals here…truly. Broken turns the album heavy again…menacing in some ways, but very moody, especially with the gut-wrenching chorus. Love this tune… Face In The Crowd is the exact opposite - a light and breezy AOR classic, while Why turns the album moodier again. Too Young is another uptempo hard rocker with a big anthemic chorus. The ballad Soldier Falls contains one of the best heartfelt vocals of this or any year. Just glorious in its soaring harmonies and emotional subject matter. Another slow track closes the album, but I'd take a whole album of ballads when they are the quality of tracks like Face The Night. If anyone asked me to play the best example of the genre I love right now, this would be the album I'd go to. Fabulous performances all-round and flawless production. Essential! |
| First Signal First Signal | Frontiers Records FRCD 476 |
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Interesting release this. The first album to feature Harry Hess on vocals throughout, but without any musical input from either him or long time side kick Pete Lesperance. Some state this is Harry's long awaited return to AOR, but for me he never left. He couldn't write a non-melodic tune if his life depended on it. A real songwriting genius if you ask me. But...with the help of some well known writers for the genre (Erik Martensson, Martin Brothers, Richard Marx), Dennis Ward and his musical team have put together a highly attractive set of classic melodic rock/AOR tunes with one eye on the style of the Harem Scarem debut and another on still sounding contemporary for today's market. To that end of the deal they have delivered. And there's little doubt about Harry's own performance here, so what amounts to a tantalizingly good prospect on paper, has indeed paid off with the finished product. The opening chords of the album and the power in which they are delivered leave no room for misunderstanding. My City is a storming melodic rocker in the vein of the first two Harem albums, so if that's what fans were asking for – here it is. When You Believe is perhaps the anthem of the album, steaming along at a frantic pace with a monster layered chorus. Part Of Me features a different kind of sound – it is the first of two Richard Marx covers from his recent Emotional Remains CD. This is obviously more contemporary, which is fine by me, but I don't like the guitar sound here at all, but Harry's vocals are still classy. Crazy is a great old-school melodic rock ballad with a big chorus. Goodbye To The Good Times is the first of another double set of covers – this time old Mark Free demos. This is a killer song, but in this case I think Harry's vocals might be a bit to gravelly for the tune itself, which was perfect for Free's more soulful style. I'm not sure who wrote First Signal, but this is brilliant and exactly the right kind of material the whole album should have been formed from. My guess is it's a Martin Bros. track. Feels Like Love This Time is a pretty good uptempo rocker, but Into The Night is another gem of a track and from the style I'm guessing the Martin's are at it again here – killer track. When November Falls is the other Richard Marx tune – so you know its all class – and in this care Harry does a really great version of it. Very smooth and modern while retaining the Hess/Harem sound. Yesterdays Rain is a classic example of an uptempo hard rocking melodic WET/Eclipse tune – just with Harry fronting the band this time. Naked Desire is the other Mark Free demo featured and I'm pleased to say Harry does a great job in this. The song is one of the best Free demos ever and Harry does it justice here. A great album of modern sounding classic AOR – if that makes sense? Fresh production, but classic sound perhaps is the better description. Either way there is a definite homage being paid here to the first two Harem Scarem albums, but I miss Pete's guitar sound and any album that mixes up songwriters has the challenge to sound cohesive and I think on that might just be the weak point of the album. Still, great vocals and plenty of anthems for Hess fans to lap up. |
| Stan Bush Dream The Dream | Frontiers Records FRCD474 |
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Stan Bush is one of those iconic AOR names that has managed to stay relevant, popular and consistent during the second half of his career. Dream The Dream sees Stan teamed again with writing partner Holger Fath (keys and guitars also) and follows a similar musical path to that of In This Life (2007). This is another extremely well produced and supremely slick album with Stan in fine voice as always. As with every Stan Bush album there are some new classics delivered and for fans of old-school AOR mixed with a slightly updated sound and contemporary production, this won't disappoint. Never Turn Back is a typical high energy Stan Bush album opener while I'm Still Here is anthemic as possible. Don't Give Up On Love and Two Hearts fulfill the required quota of moodier melodic rockers before the big Bush ballad In My Life ticks the final box of required song styles. Best of the second half is the anthemic rocker If This Is All There Is and the moody Dream The Dream. The rest is strong and consistent, but a little predictable and I think Stan definitely plays it safe. Throwing in a new version of The Touch is pushing that song's history just a little too far. The modern rock version is unique, but out of place here and should be retired from any further re-working. Of the trio of albums delivered for Frontiers in recent years, this is the least essential for me, only because it treads an all too familiar path without offering anything new. Most tracks could have come from any previous Stan Bush album. But it remains very enjoyable and consistent and the quality of the end product is certainly of appeal to all Stan Bush/AOR fans. |
| Jorn Dio | Frontiers Records FRCD467 |
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I think regular readers will be aware of just how high a regard I hold for Jorn and his talent, and how frustrating it can be with his material sometimes. I'm still waiting for that stunning classic I know he can deliver. Although received with some skepticism when first announced, this covers album of all Dio related songs (and one original tribute track) really does do the great man (Ronnie James Dio) justice. And it also does great service to the name Jorn Lande. He mimics, or interprets the Dio material here with aplomb and delivers a crushing hard rock album that's beautifully produced and immensely passionate. There are some obvious cuts (Stand Up And Shout, Night People, Kill The King, Sacred Heart) and some less obvious album cuts (Invisible, Lord Of The Last Day, Push), but all of them are delivered with all dials to 11 and Jorn's vocals are simply brilliant. The Jorn band is as powerful as ever and this album is I think an essential for all fans of Jorn to have in their collection. Jorn's original tribute track Song For Ronnie James is a very tasteful and reflective homage from a vocal great to a vocal legend. Heavy, heavy heavy! |
| Terra Nova Come Alive | Frontiers Records FRCD469 |
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The last we heard from Ron and Fred Hendrix was for the amazing debut album Two Of A Kind (where's the follow-up already?). Now they are back where they started with a new Terra Nova album. Picking up where they left off with the last album Escape, mixed with the production quality and melodic base of the Two Of A Kind record. Come Alive, Holy Grail are the album's two best AOR anthems, followed closely by the mid-tempo Here Comes The Night. The big ballad Those Eyes is also classy old-school AOR. Under Pressure sounds more like Grand Illusion with it's frantic pace, over the top harmonics and backing harmonies. Cool song. From here the band lose it a little for me. The material in the second half of the album is a bit grittier and not as memorable as the first half. Do Or Die pretty much just dies and the chorus of Who Can You Count On is great, but the verse not so. Same with My Own Way. A certain potential there with an awesome chorus, but in-between it is a bit Queen-esque pomp that doesn't fit the song. The closing ballad The Final Curtain is also a miss for me – just not warming to it. A decent album with some sure fire hit material, but also a few fillers. I was expecting more after the guys involvement in the knockout Two Of A Kind record, but this falls short of that. Very good, but not quite essential. |
| Ferreira Better Run! | Escape Music ESM213 |
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Ferreira is of course Marco Ferreira of Goodbye Thrill fame and several other projects (Venturia, Solo, etc). The man keeps busy! This is the third solo album for Marco, but the first to carry the shortened Ferreira moniker. This is a harder rocking version of Goodbye Thrill and more contemporary too. The band has a smoking rhythm section in Gus Monsanto (bass) and Alex Ferreira (drums). Patrick Sebastian supplies the guitar muscle. The production is decent, but not earth shattering. The problem here is that there is some sonic differences between tracks, which gives the album a lack of consistency. And it doesn't help to be critiqued just after reviewing a Mike Slamer release! But songwise the guys know a good tune and there's a lot to like here. Marco has a great voice for the genre and the harmony vocals add extra atmosphere during chorus breaks. This is pretty heavy compared to Goodbye Thrill in places – uptempo and free flowing. Secret Damned Society is an immediately catchy opener with a nice hard edge guitar delivery. Vocals on the frantic I Want Out are terrific and I only wish there was a bigger recording budget to give Marco the chance to be better recognized amongst his peers. Knocking On My Doors sees the band slow things down into AOR territory before things get a little more aggressive again on the fun belter Better Run! Rescue Me is a bit of a mess however and could have used a clearer mix. There are a couple of heavy almost alternative themed tracks on the album – Defense Trust The Enemy is awful (sorry Marco!) and Rule In Self isn't much better. Either side of those tracks though are some more solid melodic hard rockers, the best being the ultra moody History We Make, which closes the album on a high. Worth investigating for those that like melodic music with a bit of gusto and an updated feel. A few fillers, but a few killers too, so take a listen. Goodbye Thrill fans will hear a few tunes here that have the power sometimes missing on that band's records. |
| Jon Mullane Shift | Escape Music ESM 214 |
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Any album featuring a member of Harem Scarem is going to raise eyebrows in this scene. From the top we have Canadian singer, songwriter and multi instrumentalist Jon Mullane. The new album (his second) is produced by Harem's Creighton Doane (who also plays drums) and Harem guitarist Pete Lesperance is also credited as playing on the album. I'm not sure where, but he's on there somewhere I guess. The bulk of guitar work is supplied by Mullane himself. So all these Harem references has you excited right? Well forget it, as this album has nothing to do with Harem Scarem now or then and little else to do with the melodic rock scene. Rather, Shift is an album of contemporary rock/pop with samples, production effects and a somewhat programmed danceable beat throughout – even if that beat is delivered by guitars and a drum machine. To be fair – it isn't these aspects which kill this album for me as I remain a big fan of commercial pop when done well and can appreciate just about any kind of music when done well. This isn't. Not to my ears at least. I just don't find any redeeming qualities in the majority of songs featured here. The effects and drum programming can be distracting and Mullane's vocals are nothing of any particular note. And the songs themselves just don't work. Maybe the moody trio of songs - the ballad The One That Got Away and the modern pop of Change Your Life and Go The Distance are pretty good….these tracks actually sound like commercial modern rock and something Creighton might be involved in. The rest are all just beats and no melodies…. The remix of the opening song to close the album is beyond pointless, making this a 9 track album with 2.5 decent songs. After repeated listens I still can't say this is something I would want to listen to again. |
| Y&T Facemelter | Frontiers Records FRCD462 |
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I don't have a whole lot to speak about in regards to the new Y&T. That's no reflection on the band or the quality of the album – it just that after 13 years between records, not much has changed for the band. Now that's a good thing in this case. Y&T return to their roots with this high energy hard rocking release. The production is no frills - not the best I've ever heard and the vocals are a little rough around the edges at times, but the energy is undeniable. On With The Show crashes through the speakers with the bombastic riffs which don't let up until track 8 – the nice softer style ballad If You Want Me. I prefer the band when they keep it up tempo – Shine On, I Want You Money and I'm Coming Home are all great. Following the ballad it's back to business with the crunchy AC/DC hard rocker Hot Shot and the groovy Blind Patriot. Y&T have delivered a really solid album from start to finish, returning to their hard rocking, raw, basic formula, albeit with a few additional years under their belts! I don't think it is earth shattering enough to draw in a legion of new fans, but I reckon it will keep all the old ones more than happy. |
| Vince Neil Tattoos & Teqila | Frontiers Records FRCD463 |
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I went into this record without any enthusiasm at all. Vince Neil created one classic album with his solo debut, but I put that down more so to the presence of guitar ace Steve Stevens. His Motley Crue and solo live performances are scratchy at best and to say his voice is an acquired taste is an understatement. Then throw in the added (lack of) appeal in that this is a mostly covers album and I really didn't expect much. But, to my surprise, this album is really well produced and has a terrific in-your-face guitar attitude and Vince does his best to bring new life into some old tunes. Covering the likes of ZZ Top, Cheap Trick, Aerosmith, Sex Pistols and even Elton John, the album is cranked to the max thanks to producer Jack Blades and a hot shot band featuring Jeff Blado (guitars) and Dana Strum (bass) both from Slaughter; Zoltan Chaney on drums and Neil of course. Two new songs are surprisingly cool – Tattoos And Tequila has attitude and spunk and Another Bad Day is a mid-tempo ballad with a bit of heart. Those two are produced by Marti Frederiksen. The album punks up a lot of the tunes, but all in all it works and the raw energy behind the performances certainly gives the album a big enjoyment factor. |
| Vanden Plas The Seraphic Clockwork | Frontiers Records FRCD464 |
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Interesting band this. And an interesting, if not super intense release from Germany's premiere concept-metallers. Four years on since their last concept opus, the band delivers an even more intense and diverse record. This is not an easy listen. This is not for AOR fans or those that live for 4 minute songs and instant choruses. The story line covers a dramatic science fiction story - the concept album was penned by vocalist Andy Kuntz and which chronicles a journey in place and time from 16th century Rome to Jerusalem in the year 33 A.D. Yes indeed! How you write catchy melodies and memorable lyrics to such a theme is beyond me, so congrats to Andy for pulling it off. Vocalist Andy Kuntz has a likeable higher range voice (not unlike Michael Eden) and helps make the material all that more listenable. He brings light to some otherwise fairly dark sounds and moods. Songs range from 5 to 13 minutes in length and cover moody slow songs to double kick drum prog-metal riff-fests. Like I said – not an easy listen, but very very well produced and mixed and a definite worthy successor to the Christ-O release from 2006. |
| Pretty Maids Pandemonium | Frontiers Records FRCD459 |
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Honestly, sometimes it is very hard to keep track of the number of European hard rock/metal outfits that grace these pages. But one I have no trouble remembering is Denmark's Pretty Maids. They are fortunate enough to have their own style and sound, distinct enough to recognize their work. On Pandemonium the guys deliver an album of expected melodic hard rockers, but less expected is their ability to tone it down several notches and create some truly memorable AOR-ish tracks. The album mixes it up, and produces a couple of the year's most memorable melodic rock anthems. The gruff and over the top vocals of the opening track Pandemonium give way to a more sensitive and melodic vocal on the equally powerful INVU, which features a great chorus and the utterly brilliant Little Drops Of Heaven which is even better and one of 2010's melodic gems. Nothing I love more than moody and melodic songs, backed with power. One World One Truth heads back into hard edges riff territory, but still delivers a great chorus. The melodic hard rocker Final Day Of Innocence isn't far away from what was offered up on the latest Treat album. My next favourite song is the uptempo rock ballad Old Enough To Know and the melodic gem Breathless. Impressive stuff from Pretty Maids here. An album that should be remembered for the rest of the year and feature heavily on some Best Of lists. |
| John Waite In Real Time - Live | Frontiers Records FRCD460 |
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While long time fans continue to sit around waiting for legendary AOR vocalist John Waite to decide what to do next, another filler release has been issued to buy the singer extra time. In Real Time is a warts and all recording – just the kind I like, with little (if any) overdubs and a 'live on the night' mix. Sadly it only features a mere 10 tracks (2 others are filler/interludes) – about 7 or 8 short of a great value live recording from one of the best vocalists in the business. Because of this, we find a lot of cool tracks left out of a hit-filled catalogue of tunes. One cover, 3 Babys tunes, two Bad English tunes, and only 4 tunes from his 9 solo albums. Very disappointing set list. But the performance does give something for fans to be happy about. John's voice cracks in a few places, but shines brightly in other areas. I like the energy of the record and the honest performance. Certainly this is of definite appeal to all JW fans, but shame it is such a short album – a brief snapshot of a long and illustrious career to date. |
| Tony Harnell & The Mercury Train Round Trip | Frontiers Records FRCD468 |
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Acoustic albums are often used as fillers between bigger projects or something to maintain momentum for an artist coming off a big release. And they are often thrown together in quick time. Neither is true for this long in the works release from Tony Harnell. He has spent a good part of a full year recording this and the effort shows in the dynamics of the music featured within. This is immaculately produced and mixed to perfection (by Danger Danger's Bruno Ravel). And that's a vital key to the success of this release as it isn't a simple acoustic release by any stretch. It is a layers-thick, lush re-arrangement of song Tony has sung over the years (Westworld, TNT, Startbreaker) in stark new stripped back arrangements, accompanied by a full band of musicians playing such instruments as ukulele, additional percussion and from Amy Harnell, additional female vocals and descant recorder. It works great. One of my favourite ever acoustic themed albums was Tony's own Morning Wood release, which I regard very highly to this day. This is a sequel almost, but featuring some obscure and hit TNT songs getting reworked quite noticeably. Intuition sounds amazing as does Somebody Told You; Shame features Sandy Saraya on vocal duet; and Lonely Nights and 10,000 Lovers are mixed up, but retain their original character. Tracks range from a groovy, semi-electric jazz (10,000 Lovers), to vocal and guitar only (Satellite), to the slow and brooding intensity on Uninvited. Lots of styles and variations – but all of them unplugged and re-arranged. Another great release from Tony Harnell and worthy of picking up for any fans of his – new and old. |
| Yoso Elements | Frontiers Records FRCD466 |
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As the name suggests, this is indeed a musical blend of the pop/prog elements of Yes and the punchy rhythms and complex keyboard style of Toto. Original Toto vocalist Bobby Kimball fronts the band, rounded out by Yes alumni Tony Kaye on keyboards and Billy Sherwood on vocals and everything else. There is a certain pre-programmed feel to the album, with all tracks written by Sherwood/Kimball. There are some solid performances here – Bobby sounds good and the keyboards are lush at times. But after such a time spent living with this album, I am still not convinced I have it figured out. Or even like it! There really should be no question really as everything about it suggests it will fit my tastes perfectly. But I am still struggling to decide which songs I like. There are plenty of hooks, but I'm not sure if they are catchy enough. There is a nice balance of uptempo and slower tracks at times, but I can't seem to get into the album as a whole. I'm really at a loss to pin down exactly why I don't appreciate the album as much as I should. Maybe some of the vocals are too consistently high in pitch, maybe some of the choruses just don't work for me. The opening track that features almost no lyrical content besides the band's name is annoying and elsewhere I am just not being charmed by the music on offer. Time To Get Up is a perfect example – I should adore this song!! Big chorus, catchy hooks…but I find it annoying at times. It is a great sounding album, but I guess the songs just aren't hitting the spot. I'm going to get some feedback on this review and I'm going to read each comment with interest as maybe someone else can point out where I'm going wrong here or perhaps, someone else will agree with me. What appears to be a perfect album in theory, just finds me struggling to appreciate and therefore, the overall score reflects my view of this. |
| Shining Line Shining Line | Avenue Of Allies 10 04 0012 |
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I have a bunch of Avenue Of Allies releases to cover here, but I'll start at the top with the best of them all to date. Shining Line is the brain child of Pierpaolo “Zorro11“ Monti, together with his longtime friend and bassist Amos Monti. The project features a range of great vocalists in the melodic rock world, each of them given a great song to “shine” on. And shine they do – the songs here are absolutely great. The production is very good considering likely budget constraints and at the heart of the album is some classic style AOR anthems with some simply great vocal performances. One of the best vocalists in recent years is Erik Martensson (Eclipse, WET) and he blazes through the opening uptempo feel-good track Highway Of Love. Much loved Harry Hess comes in next with Amy – a wonderfully melodic song with an early Harem Scarem vibe. Strong Enough (Lead vocals: Robbie LaBlanc) could have come from the Blanc Faces release and Heat Of The Light (Lead vocals: Robin Beck) shows Robin in full passionate, power ballad power. Can't Stop The Rock is another anthemic rocker with Last Autumn's Dream frontman Mikael Erlandsson taking control. The Meaning Of My Lonely Words is an all too rare glimpse of Von Groove's Michael Shotton singing and is a big big ballad. The Infinity In Us (Lead vocals: Michael Voss, Guitar solo: Vinny Burns) is yet another great melodic rocker with a big chorus and the uptempo moody ballad Still In Your Heart features lead vocals from Sue Willets & Bob Harris – who sound amazing together! The world needs more Bob Harris vocals! Homeless' Lullaby is one of the better vocals I have heard from M.ill.ion's Ulrich Carlsson & Midnite Club's Carsten “Lizard” Schulz. Follow The Stars gives American vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Phil Vincent some well deserved air time and the hard rocker Unbreakable Wire is another boost to Brunorock. The complex three part epic Under Silent Walls closes the album with a different vibe altogether, adding some moody instrumental moments to vary the album even further. Good stuff for this debut album that came out of the blue. The pressure will now be on for a follow up! |
| LA Guns Covered In Guns | Cleopatra |
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What an up and down decade this lot have had. From the dumpster-worthy Man In The Moon, to the average Tales From The Strip to the in-form classic that was Waking The Dead. Then there's the B-Sides release and another covers album Rips The Covers Off. Why on God's green earth the guys would want to go the covers route again is beyond me. And their choice of “cool” covers is certainly questionable. Why cover a classic Def Leppard tune – a million dollar budget (literally) vs $120 and a slab of beer? And is including Buckcherry's Crazy Bitch an attempt at looking relevant and cool? Elsewhere there's Let There Be Rock (AC/DC) – ok; Break My Stride (Matthew Wilder) and Little Saint Nick (Beach Boys) – both embarrassing and sonically dire; Rock & Roll All Night (Kiss) – predicable and safe (pretty hard to get Kiss wrong, eh?). The only real joy I took from this album was their cover of Cry Little Sister (Theme from The Lost Boys) by Gerald McMann. Phil Lewis does a really good vocal here, but that's about it. I really used to follow this band religiously. Then the break up and subsequent two-LA Guns policy made them look silly. The music hasn't been the same since and this release is another big fat nail into their career coffin. |
| Wild Side Speed Devil | Escape Music ESM210 |
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Norwegian rockers Wild Side recorded this, their second album, at Ronnie LeTekro's studios. Produced by the band WildSide with Andy LaRoque, the sound is very good for a release of this size. Big sound and big guitars, all evenly mixed. Speed Devil is an unremarkable, yet solid album of AC/DC meets Motley Crue style hard rock with a dash of Yngwie guitar theatrics thrown in for good measure. Add some accented Vince Neil vocals from singer Joachim Berntsen and you'll be close to the band's sound. This kind of European hard rock is easy to come across, so each band needs to have an identifying mark. I'm not sure these guys have that, but the songs are good enough to win over some fans – just not sure how many. Mine Tonight, Paranoid Circus and Wild One are all driving rockers with conviction, Won't Let Go has a cool riff and the only change of pace comes form the ballad Love For You and the closing end of the album. Uptempo, big riffs and a sense of excitement are the key factors to this pretty enjoyable hard rock record. |
| Third Eye Recipe For Disaster | Escape Music ESM209 |
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I normally have a lot of time for Escape Music releases. I find that label A&R Khalil Turk has a good ear for melodic rock that has a habit of growing on you and making itself memorable for all the right reasons.
I'll have to side-step that judgment for this release. Third Eye is a Danish metal outfit, with some decent sounding riffs with a progressive edge, but the vocals are just beyond abysmal. When they aren't screaming in full Geoff Tate glory, or whining with a really off-putting accent, they are either growling, talking or howling along in the background. I just can't get past them. I'm wondering if anyone else will be able to either. I've seen a couple of positive reviews for this, but I can't fathom why. I like it powerful and I can take good prog-metal anytime, but this is neither. |
| Triumph Greatest Hits Remixed | Frontiers Records FRCD461 |
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A sequel to Triumph's Classics from 1989, Greatest Hits Remixed is a 14 track update of that hits package and comes on the back of the band's US Festival 83 Live release. Not sure this is an essential release, but the bonus DVD of clips certainly adds value for money. I've followed this band since Thunder Seven in the early 80s and Rik Emmett remains one of my favourite singers. I'd love nothing more than a new studio album from the band – if Rush can still rock, then so can these guys. C'mon already! I'm going to presume this signing by Frontiers is a foot in the door to persuade the band to work on a new album for them. I hope so… But, as for this compilation – re-mixed? Re-mastered sure…but I'm not hearing a lot of difference here between the originals and these re-mixed hits. A little brighter perhaps and certainly a little louder. For those new to the band or only familiar with a couple of tunes – this is certainly a terrific starting point. The Canadian trio is responsible for some of the most memorable rock anthems of the 80s and their legacy and place in rock history should never be understated. |
| Drive She Said Dreams Will Come | AOR Heaven |
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Dreams Will Come is supposed to be the re-introduction of this classic AOR act to the public and a prelude to an all-new studio album. If that be the case – based on the new recordings here – I would put a halt to that immediately. New band recordings of tracks written by Mark Mangold and covered elsewhere are Fools Game (Michael Bolton) and I Found Someone (Cher). Both classic AOR tracks, but here are reduced to B-Grade covers due to some horrible vocals from the once golden Al Fritsch. The mix isn't much better either. I Found Someone is particularly nasty. A crying shame. Two brand new tracks are also included. Try 2 Let Go is stunningly bad. Almost semi-industrial in it's design, the track is as far from expected Drive She Said style as that awful Bieber kid would be singing for Crimson Glory. The other new track Dreams Will Come is closer to classic AOR but just sounds horrible. Vocals, drums, guitars…all horrible. Shame again as the chorus could be a killer. The rest of the album is DSS as we remember them. The rest of the album is “best tracks” - Don't You Know What Love Is, Maybe It's Love, Hard Way Home, Driving Wheel – all hold fond memories. A little dated now in that 1983 keyboard drenched style, but at least it had a decent production and great performances from all. This once mighty pomp-AOR institution have not aged well and I would hope that if there will still be an all-new album, some serious rethinking be done before it comes to fruition. |
| 8 Point Rose Primigenia | Escape Music ESM211 |
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This is more like it. Heavier than Third Eye, more progressive than Third Eye and infinitely more classy than Third Eye. If you are going to spend some money on a metal release, make it this one. Swedish metallers 8 Point Rose have a really big sounding record here – with riffs, beats and progressive twists throughout. This is a seriously heavy record, yet the vocals remain ever likable. Marcus Nygren has a pleasant tone – when screaming or diving into the darker, lower notes. It makes all the difference. The band has toured a bit and it shows in the cohesive nature of the songs here. You can tell if a band has gelled, even in the studio. For a metal album, the songs here are relatively short. All around the 5 minute mark and the guys haven't forgotten choruses – take a listen to the metal anthem When Chaos Rules Our Lives. A heavier and less progressive Dream Theater might be one description, but the guys have their own sound. Like I said – seriously heavy in places, but equally melodic in other areas. A solid debut – unlike that of Third Eye. These guys will definitely be back for more and I'll look out for that. |
| Ratt Infestation | Loud & Proud/Roadrunner |
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I wouldn't call myself a big Ratt fan. I have a couple of the older albums and their last studio album, but generally don't get excited about the band. And some of singer Stephen Pearcy's solo outings have been absolutely diabolical. So what happened here? Basically they nailed it! Pearcy sounds great – the best I have heard from him and the songs are simply Ratt doing what Ratt always did best. High energy hard rock with a sleazy edge and pounding rhythm section. Best of all, these songs have as much melody and all-round quality as any Ratt release I've heard. Just pure energy here – from the opening anthem Eat Me Up Alive, to the single Best Of Me (don't worry guys, Van Halen will forgive you) and the frantic A Little Too Much and Last Call. Full on Ratt N Roll. I've said this may times before, but what is it that brings a band to simply be the best they can be at what the fans want them to be. Why do some bands get it – like Ratt, Whitesnake, Tesla, FM, Treat – and some bands like Def Leppard and Bon Jovi don't? Well, simple…those that get it are the ones that listen to the fans and forget about trying to change styles repeatedly to remain relevant – whatever that means in their minds. Personally, I think that If it comes from the heart, it will sound relevant no matter what and that's what Ratt have done here and why they are on the receiving end of a lot of great publicity. |
| Scorpions A Sting In The Tail | Universal |
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The Scorps are back with another album and an apparent backflip after their last album Humanity Hour 1. That album moved the band into a new decade, with a more polished modern rock feel and won a lot of praise for its quality and credibility. So a little confusing to find them throwing that away to head back into classic hard rock territory. Normally a welcome relief for classic fans and perhaps still that for some. No problem with that myself, as I've always enjoyed the band's 80s output, which this album most closely mirrors. The anthem deluxe Raised On Rock clearly shows the direction of the new album which mixed Savage Amusement with some Def Leppard production techniques and that straight ahead rock sound. Sting In The Tail is as catchy as it gets, yet very simple; The Good Die Young is a typical Scorps ballad; Rock Zone is a little lyrically lame, but it does “rock”; Loreli is another big ballad; Turn You On is a solid hard rocker before we head back into ballad territory again as we do yet again for the last track Best Is Yet To Come, which might just be the best of the 4 featured. In-between in the great pop/rock anthem Spirirt Of Rock delivers one of the best choruses of the album. Consistent, enjoyable and ultimately, just quality Scorpions. Will it be their last ever album? Doubt it! |
| Asia Omega | Frontiers Records FRCD 455 |
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Asia continues their comeback with studio album number 2 since reforming. Here they follow the path set out by Phoenix. Thankfully though, the guys have discovered second and third gear, allowing this album to feature more a mix of uptempo tracks and a greater variation in pace overall. There are still too many songs that make David Cassidy sound like Black Label Society, but at least this time they are armed with better melodies, strong choruses and a more typically Asia sound. I rated Phoenix too high in hindsight as I haven't played it since, but it was still a crowd pleaser for many. Many other complained of the lack of spark. Check this album out instead. Much better. Shame though that one of the best tracks on the album comes from a rehashed Wetton/Downes track – Finger On The Trigger. Still, the lush mid-tempo Through My Veins has a real moody vibe and appeal, Holy War runs along at a fast tempo (for these guys!) and Listen Children is simple, uplifting and most reminiscent of early Asia. An album highlight for me. Light The Way is almost frantic for these guys and I'm Still The Same and I Believe are pure uplifting AOR. Ballad Ever Yours is slow, but has a wonderful lead vocal. End of the World is even more haunting. There Was a Time also…slow, but wrapped around great melodies and lush orchestration. Don't Wanna Lose You Now is a nice heartfelt ballad with lots of harmonies to finish the album. A really terrific album this – and one I think Asia fans will be highly enamored with. Lots of harmonies and layers of orchestration and John Wetton sounds more inspired than I have heard him in years. I was beginning to think of him as the weak link, but on this record he rules. Terrible cover artwork though. |
| Tesla Alive In Europe | Frontiers Records FRCD457 |
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Another live album on the market right now sees Tesla also running through their catalogue of albums for fans in Europe – this set taken from numerous shows in July 2009. And another very 'live' record – warts and all, which I appreciate, but I have to say that Jeff Keith's vocals are a little hoarse and raspy throughout this set. And again, great to hear new material alongside the band's classic tracks. I'm one of those Tesla fans that doesn't think the guys have made a step wrong over the years, aside from a few filler tracks here and there. The mix is superb, especially the crisp guitars and vocals, although I think the drum sound is a little dry throughout. Another one for die-hards, but few else. Recommended for fans of the band. Minimalist packaging though. |
| Extreme Take Us Alive | Frontiers Records FRCD456 |
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I like my live albums, loud, raw and 100% live. No overdubs thank you. Even at the risk of making some musicians look human! Extreme's double CD/DVD is one of those nice raw recordings that capture the band exactly as they are. Loose, improvisional and inspirational. Great to see these guys together again and the crowd in this case are totally dedicated to the band and makes a lot of noise throughout. The band jam like their lives depend on it – always a joy to hear such talent having fun on stage. Recording quality is great and the mix nice and clear, in that raw sense of a live album at least. A number of highlights for long time fans, but how could you go past the nearly 7 minute long Play With Me? New songs Ghost and Star make for a more enjoyable listen than the studio cuts and it is great to see all eras of the band's history included in the set list. Essential for Extreme and Bettencourt fans. |
| FM Metropolis | AOR Heaven 00040 |
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It has taken a long time for the guys to get back together and for this album to materialize, but it has been worth the wait. I can't see any FM fans being disappointed by this as it is simply FM at their very best. The production is great; there is a real solid thump to this album, which features material on the heavier side of what FM have delivered over the years. Steve Overland sounds as sharp as ever, the harmony vocals are all in place and the trademark British melodic rock sound is delivered over 13 quality songs. Overland may be appearing on different records quite a bit in recent years, but there is no repeating himself here. The stand alone sound of FM is unique and this album is no different. Rocking with tracks like the opening thumper Wildside, Flamingo Road and the Foreigner-esque Over You; to the moody monster Hollow, Bring Back Yesterday and Unbreakable. All great songs. Uptempo, mid-tempo and smooth ballads are all featured on this classic British melodic rock album capturing a band that sounds fresh and energetic after a long time in hiatus. |
| Crashdiet Generation Wild | Frontiers Records FRCD458 |
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I have wide ranging tastes, as long as it's all rock n roll! I love AOR, melodic rock, hard rock and take in a bit of melodic metal, pop, progressive and sleaze rock and whatever else this site's duties requires me to listen to. So it is no wonder I have been so happy with the music around in the past few months. Something for everyone and all releases seriously good quality. And no label has come close to Frontiers over the last few months. Now they are delivering one of the best hard sleaze albums of 2010 with the new Crashdiet album – a record that takes all the attitude of the late 80s Sunset Strip, mixes it with the dirty streets of Vegas and rolls it in a coating of Swedish glam. Crashdiet's power punch album is as consistent as you could hope for with highlights stretching throughout the album. The hard blast of Armageddon, the 'Chris Laney' sonic boom of So Alive and the killer first single Generation Wild – which would easily have been a charting song back in 1990. The guys slow it down just slightly for the moody Save Her, which features one of the coolest verse vocal hooks in recent years. Just love the angst and attitude of this track. Chemical is another really commercial kick ass track and Beautiful Pain closes the album with another angst filled blast. Simon Cruz is a wonderful vocalist perfectly suited to the band and I dare say a real find for the band after the untimely passing of former singer Dave Lepard. This one of the best produced albums of its kind in a long time. It features a huge wall of sound. Hard rock lovers need to investigate. |
| Mass Sea Of Black | Escape Music ESM207 |
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Utterly brilliant! Mass are an acquired taste, but if you are already a fan, you are going to flip over this album – maybe the band's best ever in a long history. The Robert Plant like vocals mixed with a Led Zeppelin/Zebra/Dokken hybrid is not for everyone, but if you are looking for something different with a ton of attitude, this is a great album to check out. Established fans already happy with the guy's comeback album Crack Of Dawn are going to be positively blown away here. Great songs, the best production I have heard from the guys and a crystal clear mix make this a winner. Falling From Grace is frantic, fast and in your face; All The Years Gone starts acoustic before erupting into a monster chorus and The Right Side and Ashes To Ashes are classic eerie Mass madness. More acoustic guitars and a much lower vocal register for the feel good Coming Home. The acoustic ballad More Than A Friend has been updated with strings and more vocals than the earlier version found on MRCD5. Till We Meet Again is another great ballad. All That I Needed, Justify and Sea Of Black rock hard to give the album an interesting mix of rockers and ballads. |
| Serpentine A Touch Of Heaven | AOR Heaven 00042 |
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A lot has been said of these guys on the message boards after some high profile promotions and a YouTube video clip. Some like, some don't (isn't that true of everything?), but if the facts are presented fairly, then one would have to back these guys for creating a solid album of classic AOR elements featuring the vocals of man of the moment Tony Mills (Shy, TNT, State Of Rock). Tony certainly lifts the profile of these British lads, but it isn't his voice that makes this record – it is the quality of the songs. Nothing new here, nor anything adventurous, simply 9 fine old-school melodic rock/AOR tunes featuring a lot of layers and a very good production. Only the drum sound could have used with more tweaking. It lacks impact in certain places and could have given more power to some songs. Highlights are the anthems A Touch Of Heaven, Whatever Heartache, the moodier Lonely Nights and the killer mid-tempo AOR track For The Love Of It All. The album took a while to grow on me, but is laden with melodies – check out Fashion and the moody Love Suicide. Only 1 filler here – the closing track Unbreak My Heart. I hated the original and Tony Mills does his best to make it listenable. Doesn't work for me, but I know others dig it, so that's fine. |
| State Of Rock A Point Of Destiny | Metal Heaven MHV00081 |
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It's that Tony Mills again! Well, it shouldn't look like he's on every album this month, as I should have reviewed this back in February. Still, if you add TNT and Shy to the 2010 schedule, it does seem like the Year Of The Mills. State Of Rock is basically German melodic rockers Frontline with Mills on lead vocals. So the album does represent the Frontline sound for the most part – a slightly complicated European blend of hard rock and Journey style AOR for those unfamiliar with the band. 10 songs here of consistent quality. I don't go for the opening track so much, but after that the hooks and Frontline layered keyboard and vocal sounds ring true. Without My Love and Heartless Dreamer are great, Hanging In The Balance is intense and Freedom is a big heavy rocker with the best chorus of the album. Count Me Out sounds like old school TNT and A Point Of Destiny gets heavier still. Don't Make Me Cry is a big epic ballad, but Tony's voice runs out of charm here. The vocals are just too high for my ears. Friction is a great hard rocker that might just be the best track of the album and Somewhere is an ok rock track to close the album. |
| Chris Laney Only Come Out At Night | Metal Heaven MHV00083 |
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Another solo album from producer/guitarist Chris Laney just one year after his killer breakthrough debut album. And no surprise here – Chris takes up exactly where he left off, using the same blueprint as the debut to deliver another high octane sleaze fuelled hard rock gem. This should probably be purchased right alongside the Crashdiet release, but beware – your ear drums could require surgery after prolonged listening to both albums. Chris' voice is somewhat of an acquired taste, but if you have the debut album, there is no reason why you shouldn't have this too. More dynamic songs, big vocals and wailing guitars and that Swedish sleaze touch that has its own unique style. Plenty of highlights and most of them upbeat and in your face – Only Come Out At Night, Rockstar, Crush and Love So Bad. On a slower note B4 It's 2late shows a slightly different side of Chris. Two songs of special note – the very commercial One Kiss Tonight (anthem heaven!) and Playing With Fire. Two really really great songs and the most melodic Chris Laney has delivered yet. |
| Newman The Art Of Balance | Chrome Dome CRDO-10-01 |
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Newman, or multi-instrumentalist, producer, songwriter and vocalist Steve Newman, never disappoints. With precision regularity, a new album appears and stays true to the formula he has developed over several years now. And as with each album's release, we get to discover another set of traditional British melodic rock gems, and a few new classics per album too. Staying on course with the heavier direction of the last album or two, The Art Of Balance won't disappoint any fan of Newman and should serve to further enhance Steve Newman's production and songwriting credentials. Some of the earlier material was more traditional AOR, but the last two albums have been stripped back harder rocking material and the opening Hero To Zero shows where this album is heading. Edge Of The World, Endless and The Miracle all rock along at a fair pace before the glorious AOR sound of old returns for the lush Stay With Me. Tumble Down is one of the best rockers of the album and kicks off the second part of the album with a bang. Break It Down is another classic from Steve and Forever is another classy ballad. More great stuff from Newman – always take a little bit to sink in and grown on you, but then it's stuck in your head forever. |
| Silent Call Greed | Escape Music ESM206 |
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Good band these guys. Swedish hard, intense progressive melodic metal, with some fine keyboard swirls and dramatic arrangements, all with the very likable vocals of Andy Kravljaca making sense of it all. His upper register vocals suit the music and give comparisons to Dream Theater and Goran Edman. Long songs without being epic – 5 to 7 minutes in general and 60 minutes of music to absorb. It isn't easy when there is so much going on, but that's the trademark of progressive music. The band can slow it down for more intense slower numbers (Through The Endless Night) and even close out with an epic acoustic based ballad (Clavain's Tale). This is a quality album with a huge sound that should be investigated by all fans of heavy progressive music. They are one of the finer bands out there, but could use some further chorus development to take them right over the top. |
| Firecracker Born Of Fire | Escape Music ESM208 |
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First thing that hits you with Firecracker is some Yngwie styled guitar heroics, it certainly got my attention. But then the vocals kicked in. The band is a pre-cursor to the quality Swedish prog-metal band Vindictiv, featuring the band's founder Stefan Lindholm. This is a softer, less progressive version of the Vindictiv sound, even though the 9 songs still nearly make a 50 minute album. There is some terrific guitar work on this album, but it is pretty clear to see why it never got a deal back in the day and I'm thinking it might have been better off left behind. The songs just don't have the attention grabbing melodies of Vindictiv and the move to Goran Edman was certainly a step up from vocalist Tommy Kerevik used here. He's a good singer, but just doesn't seem to fit in here. This is an ok album, but there is so much around these days that anything less than great is going to struggle to be remembered or make any kind of inroads into the market place. One for die hard Vindictiv fans perhaps. |
| Treat Coup De Grace | Frontiers Records FRCD453 |
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The name says it all. This album is a real treat to listen to. Melodic Gold to these ears and a perfect album for any mood, anywhere, anytime. Treat haven't made an all-new studio album since 1992 and more than make up for time here, with a breathtaking 13 track tour de force. Production is staggeringly good courtesy of guitarist Anders Wikstrom and the mix is perhaps the clearest and crispest sound I have heard in years. You could measure the precise centre of an atom using the same tools to balance between instruments and vocals here. This is my W.E.T. for 2010 – strong melodic vocals, soaring melodies, huge production, thumping rhythm section and powerful guitars – tough but melodic, plus a great chorus on every track. And through 13 tracks and 1 intro here, every track has something different to offer and favourites vary depending on the mood at hand. Every track is mesmerising to my ears. Heavy in places, lighter AOR in other areas, but perfectly balanced and one of those albums that demand to be played from start to finish without pause. Two big stadium rockers kick off the album in grandiose style – textbook European hard rock. On Papertiger it gets even better, with a thumping Talisman style bass line driving the song along until it just blows up into the biggest chorus this side of The Final Countdown. Roar follows the same path, just heavier and more intense. And when the chorus hits, you sure as hell are 'ready to roar!' A Life To Die For is the power ballad Europe wish they could still write and is up there with the best the likes of what H.E.A.T. and Brother Firetribe deliver. Tangled Up thumps along in the same vein as the opening tracks, leading into the moody, but super heavy Skies Of Mongolia. Oh boy…here we go again…an authoritive melodic verse that gets blown away by a huge chorus. Gold I say! Heaven Can Wait is a more direct rocker with a more subtle chorus, but melodies that get better each listen. I'm Not Running is another multi-layered dramatic moody rocker that oozes intensity and layers and layers of instrumentation. No Way Without You kicks along at breakneck speed in a Motley Crue kinda style before a glorious anthemic fist in the air chorus blows the lid off the album yet again. Huge! We Own The Night is a stunning melodic AOR track with a moody verse and another absolutely glorious AOR chorus with soaring vocals. Track after track, this album delivers. Surely it couldn't get any better? Surely the quality has to drop somewhere? Not at all. All For Love is yet another uptempo melodic rock anthem with sing-along chorus any band would be proud of. Closing the album is a fast and furious rocker Breathless. Crunching guitar riffs and a melodic vocal end the album on an adrenaline filled high.
PS. I forgot to mention that Anders was involved in co-writing with Gotthard in recent years, so there is definitely a huge appeal on this record for Gotthard fans.
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| Crazy Lixx New Religion | Frontiers Records FRCD452 |
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Damn, another very fine album to review and another to highly recommend to readers. Crazy Lixx burst onto the scene a year or two back and created waves with a high energy slice of dirty old-school rock n roll/sleaze, mixed with commercial hard rock. On New Religion, Swedish master of the moment Chris Laney jumps behind the desk to steer the band into mainstream commercialism, with the power of their influences still in place. The band takes the power and attitude of early Motley Crue, mixes it with Aerosmith, Pink Cream 69 and Def Leppard (especially the big layered choruses and backing vocals). Add in Chris Laney's influence and you have one monster sounding hard rock record with some killer choruses. Another album with track after track that delivers the goods. Heavier than fellow Swedes Treat, more hard rock than Poison and dare I say it – as heavy as we wish Def Leppard was still capable of. Rock In A Hard Place is a simply stunning in your face hard rocker with all the attitude of the last Chris Laney record – just with better vocals. My Medicine is in the running for 'Chorus Of The Year'. It just never ends. This rocker takes Def Leppard's Let's Get Rocked and blows it into microscopic pieces. More energy, more attitude and an even bigger chorus. 21 Til I Die is similar, but even faster (yet lighter), but still pumping. Blame It On Love shows the band can deliver something more melancholy, albeit with seventeen layers of harmony vocals. Few albums deliver a four by four knockout to open the album such as this does, but there's still more. Elsewhere on the album the anthems continue with the fist pumping Road To Babylon, The faithful PC69 cover Children Of The Cross, the speeding freeway rocker Lock Up Your Daughter, the Wig Wam style glamtastic She's Mine, the hands in the air hard rock ballad What Of Our Love and the moody Voodoo Woman that closes the album.
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| Auras New Generation | Frontiers Records FRCD454 |
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Often an album that sticks to a certain formula is accused of being predictable or safe. That may be the case with some albums, but when they are this damn good, it simply doesn't matter.
This may be a musically safe and familiar record, but it does the scene good to see newcomers capable of delivering quality old-school AOR like this. If there are no new bands dedicated to the craft of 80s melodic rock/AOR, then it will forever be left to the dinosaurs to fill the needs of fans and dare I say that need might slowly shrink. So here we have a top notch group of musicians from Brazil in the form of Auras. Wow, what a fabulously enjoyable album this is. Of course there are the usual comparisons to Journey and Steve Perry due to the nature of the sound, but what I hear here even more distinctly is another great AOR hero Kevin Chalfant. In fact, this could easily be a new Two Fires record. The lush layers of keyboards and guitars are there as are the layered vocals and some outstanding lead vocals. And being mixed and mastered by Dennis Ward, you just know that the sound is going to crunch through the speakers. From the glorious anthemic opener Beauty Of Dreams, you just know you are onto something special here. Forgive and Forget packs more punch and a crisp lead guitar (not to mention some honky tonk piano!); Never Give Up is pure Two Fires; In My Arms has sentiment in spades; Reach Out has an urgent, attention grabbing chorus and the utterly brilliant New Generation just sums up everything I love about this style of music. Check it out. Elsewhere Just The Way Love Goes is another Chalfant style gem with a little Toto thrown in; Out Of Love is my pick of the album as far as slower tracks and Love To Survive closes the album on a upbeat high.
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| Stage Dolls Always | AOR Heaven |
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When one of your favourite bands only puts out an album ever 3 or 4 years (folks, we are all getting older here – no time to lose!), you pin a great deal of expectation to each release. Stage Dolls are one of those bands and have rarely disappointed – I just love their high-tech pop/rock sound and the soulful raspy vocals of Torsten. Their last album was simply classic too. But on this occasion they sure have disappointed. And to repeat myself somewhat, when an album comes along every so rarely from an artist, and it then is hardly played, you know something is definitely up. There is a question in my mind over the direction of this album (more laid back and 'earthy' and a lot of female backing vocals), the main problem is a severe lack of penetrating song writing. The songs just seem tired and uninspired and I hate saying that. Hate it! But the songs just aren't as catchy as we have come to hear from Stage Dolls and the usual exuberance of energy the band emits is just not here for me. Even the chorus of the album's opening rocker falls flat and I can only find myself singing along to one or two songs on the album. One of them is the soft and slow ballad Raining On A Sunny Day – slow, but undeniably sentimental. The mid-tempo feel-good Highway's Open is another. The mix of acoustic and electric guitars works well with the pace of the song. Better Off Pretty works ok for a softer track and the country tinge of Where The Blacktop Ends is reasonably catchy, but the style is questionable. The closer is an acoustic ballad with duel male/female lead vocals. A soft and gentle track with strong sentimental vocals and lyrics, but still sounds out of place here. On the negative side of things Rollin' just sounds noisy and Taillights has no real chorus and too many female backing vocals. The boogie rocker Saturday Night would be an ok filler on any other album, but here just sounds like another flat rocker.
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| Human Temple Murder Of Crows | Escape Music ESM202 |
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This is a huge leap forward in quality for Finland's Human Temple. I recall the 2004 was a notable debut and made mention of the powerful vocals of singer Janne Hurme. One comment mentioned the heavy accent of his words, which is still in play, but the mid-range tone of his voice is very likable and has a certain Jorn-esque feel to it. Murder Of Crows is a far heavier release – a darker feel, heavy keyboards and a much more powerful production. Not My Fault is a powerful intro to the album with a dramatic keyboard soaked chorus; Empty Stages is a lighter, faster moving rocker with a melodic chorus; Just One Night has some 80s keys thrown into the mix and a more melodic rock approach; Promised Land is an epic 6 minute Whitesnake style hard rocker and Lie has a heavy Joey Tempest vocal in there and more 80s keys, but the production isn't as sharp. The quality and the direction both drop a little for a few songs mid-album. The production is quite varied across Yours Cold Blooded, Ghost Of You and Emily. These songs are more diverse and not as memorable as the first half of the record, but we're back on track with the excellent Secret and then the album closes with an enjoyable uptempo melodic rocker What About My Broken Heart.
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| Hard Time Is Waiting For No One | Escape Music ESM205 |
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No pun intended, but the hype was pushed a little too hard for the H.A.R.D. debut. I didn't think there was anything overly memorable there and quickly forgot it. Time Is Waiting For No One is a definite step in a more positive direction, but the guys still have some work to do. First good move here was the inclusion of singer Bjorn Lodin. The Swedish singer has the experience needed to bring these guys to a new level and his voice is well suited to the style this album moves in. I couldn't really pin a style on the guys before, but this time it is easy. The new album is a straight forward, no nonsense melodic hard rock record, with a big nod of the head towards AC/DC. Stripped back riffing, gruff, raspy vocals and some pounding bass and drums make this a good driving record. What I don't hear is too much variation in pace of style across much of the album and similar chorus structures do tend to allow one song to bleed into another at times. There are three or four slower songs that break up the hard rockers, all which work well. In fact, these songs are the ones that deliver the true surprises of the album. The acoustic driven closer Four-leaf Clover, the earthy Nona and the sentimental and especially the melodic ballad Love Goes With Everything, where Bjorn's growl is turned down and the guys prove they can change gears. Same with The Pace And The Flow – which sees the song achieve both things for the album that its name suggests.
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| Liberty & Justice Light It Up | Retroactive Records RAR7881 |
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This is by far the best album to date from the all-star Christian rock project Liberty & Justice. Justin Murr, the man behind the project (bass, co-writer) has once again assembled a wonderful cast of new and old faces of the hard rock scene to deliver his message. This is perhaps the most diverse group assembled also. Chris Jericho to Marq Torien, to Harry Hess and Ted Poley. One thing I have always pointed out with L&J releases is the always diverse array of styles and production values within each album. Too varied and with not enough quality control. Something which can fall out of the control of the organizer when using so may artists and studios to create a cohesive project. I'm happy to report that the majority of this album is very consistent and follows a similar musical path – perhaps the most melodic rock friendly path of all the L&J releases to date. But in the negative column, the album kicks off with the two worst songs of the whole set. Light It Up (with Phil Lewis and JK Northrup) is heavy and has a decent aggressive hook, but the recording quality is plan bad. And even worse is the horrendous quality of The Other Thief (Dale & Troy from Bride). Unlistenable to my ears. From here though, things pick up, with the very wise decision to involve Vic Rivera in the writing and recording process. Vic's production style is very melodic friendly and always a smooth ride, although I'm still waiting for Vic's drum tracks to kick the required amount of ass his songs deserve. Blink is a nice upbeat melodic rock featuring Louise Lowrey (Vixen); Do What You Believe is a moodier mid-tempo track featuring CJ Snake (Firehouse). Man Vs Mother Nature is almost a Poley/Rivera track in disguise, as Ted Poley features and the song could easily be on the duo's debut album. Great melodic rocker here with the best chorus of the album, but the drums Vic…the drums!!! Treading Serpents (Les Carlsen of Bloodgood) is heavier until the very melodic chorus bursts through. Beautiful Decision is Harem Scarem (Pete and Harry Guest) meets Vic Rivera – great combination and another classic melodic rock tune already previewed on the MRCD5 compilation. Drunk Dead Gorgeous could almost be a super heavy Poley/Rivera tune except Marq Torein's razor blade vocals could not be mistaken for Ted Poley! And Greed features Robert Mason on lead. A bit rough this one, but the guitar solo and chorus are well worth it. Aside from Vic's vital input into this album, elsewhere on the album you can hear the terrific melodic ballad For Better Or Worse (Shawn Pelata & Stephen Chesney); the acoustic ballad Every Reason To Believe (Kelly Keeling) and two absolutely great Steve Brown co-writes Wrestling With God (Brown and Pete Loran of Trixter) and Best Time We Never Had (Chris Jericho and Phil Collen). Both tracks rock – one classic, one modern…
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| Darkology Altered Reflections | Rock-a-holics Records |
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This album has been out a while now, but is well worth mentioning, especially for fans of heavy progressive metal. Screaming vocals, dark, heavy guitars, twisting beats, intricate drum fills and solos and 9 long epic songs await. Production quality is impressive, with emphasis placed on the guitar leads. The band has quite the pedigree, with vocalist Kelly Carpenter (Beyond Twilight, Outworld) joining guitarist Michael Harris (Arch Rival) and drummer brother Brian Harris (Firewind) with bassist Mike Neal. Extensive instrumental passages break up the songs and give prog fans something to appreciate. Comparisons to Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Arch Rival and Megadeth can be made. But this is strictly one for the metal heads! |
| Arch Rival In The Face Of Danger | Rock-a-holics Records |
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Dayton, Ohio metallers Arch Rival have their debut album In The Face Of Danger re-issued by Rockaholics Records. I hadn't heard this album before and always have the fear that yesterday's classics have a hard time making any impact on the ears of today's fans, if not already familiar with the album in question. But I really dig this release. To me it is a quality dose of old-school 80s metal (which it was!), cleaned up and presented along with 2 bonus live tracks and a full 12 track DVD with bonus features! Value for money? Yes indeed! Take a little Racer X, Dokken, Impellitteri and XYZ even and mix it all up and Arch Rival is what you get. Quite impressive really and one of those albums that sounds just a little dated, but considering the age, it has held up beautifully. |
| Giant Promise Land | Frontiers Records FRCD449 |
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You are on a hiding to nothing when to roll out such an iconic name as Giant, dressed up in a new wrapper. Bringing back Giant without the legendary voice/guitarist/writer/frontman of the band in Dann Huff was always going to be a risk and a hard sell. In comes vocalist Terry Brock (much loved and respected in his own right) and guitarist John Roth (Winger) to join originals Mike Brignardello and David Huff. There are a few Dann Huff co-writes on here and a couple of solos, but let's be frank – it isn't really Giant as we knew it. So, the only way out of this – the only way to move forward – was to deliver a knockout album in a similar style to what Giant is loved for. And that's exactly what the guys have done. Argue all you like about the name – the contents of the album are terrific and I'll be playing it for quite some time to come. Highlights are many on this rather diverse album. I don't agree with a couple of things, but on the whole – fabulous. The pounding anthem Believer (another Erik Martensson epic) is brilliant; Never Surrender is hands in the air feel good melodic rock; I'll Wait For You is a John Roth written anthem that shows he has a lot more to offer and sounds remarkably Giantesque. The boogie rocker Complicated Man and the emotional and heartfelt Dying To See You are two Brock/Roth co-writes and two highlights from the album – I'd love to hear these two guys write more together. The smooth mid-tempo Promise Land and the more uptempo Through My Eyes are two fine Dann Huff/Mark Spiro AOR tunes previously covered by Spiro as a solo artist. Why the change of name to Promise Land from Promised Land is beyond me and rather daft really. The original song was Back To The Promised Land and the lyrics are “promised land”, so why? Our Love is another great ballad (Dann Huff/Terry Brock co-write). The mid-album coupling of Prisoner Of Love (Erik Martensson/Miqael Persson) and Two World's Collide (Dann Huff/Billy Smiley) are straight out of the 'I Can't Get Close Enough song handbook', so Giant fans should feel at home immediately with those tracks. I think the album closes with the weakest track on the album (Save Me), so that's a shame, but elsewhere there really isn't much to complain about. What I really took out of this album is the genius guitar playing of John Roth. The guy really shreds and this is an album that features a lot of guitar – just as one expects from the Giant name.
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| Brian Howe Circus Bar | Frontiers Records FRCD450 |
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Brian Howe's first solo album in 13 years is 2010's answer to Rick Springfield's 2007 release Venus In Overdrive. That is, a brightly delivered collection of pop/rock songs from a classic melodic rock artist, delivered in a polished modern rock format. Using the slick production values of today's pop artists, but with the warmth of his unmistakable vocals, Brian Howe captures the best of both worlds here – pushing the genre in a forward direction, while never abandoning everything we love about melodic music – hooks, choruses and great vocal melodies. This is easily Brian's best work since the Bad Company days – Bad Reputation and Here Comes Trouble in particular. And it completely buries his mellow Tangled In Blue album. This album rocks and just like the Springfield album it flows beautifully from one track to the next. So many similarities between these two albums – both open with almost perfect pop songs (I'm Back vs What's Victoria's Secret); Howe's I'm Back is just brilliant and as catchy as it gets. Both use a little heavier guitar to drive the catchy chorus home (There's This Girl vs Mr. PC) and both engage a little groove and swagger (It Could Have Been You vs Venus In Overdrive) and both feature killer mid-tempo (Surrounded vs I'll Miss That Someday) and smooth ballads (Flying vs Oblivious). Further into the album How It Could Have Been is as good as anything from Howe era Bad Company as is Feels Like Coming Home – which features an outstanding vocal melody. The stand alone track of the album is an AC/DC style rocker If You Want Trouble, which was the direction Brian was heading in during earlier attempts to get a solo record done. I'm glad he changed tack to deliver this gem. The song doesn't really fit here, but it's a lot of fun and BH rocks! The only track I really wish wasn't here is the Bad Company cover How About That. It is one of my favourite Howe songs, but it has been done already, time to move on. Holy Water is also re-recorded and included at the edge of the album, but on this occasion Brian slows it right down and it really works.
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| Rick Springfield / Jeff Silverman From The Vault | Frontiers FRCD448 |
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I'm proud to say that this release was my idea, well me and Jeff! It came from dealing with songwriter/producer Jeff Silverman, who was part of Rick Springfield's 70s touring band and later went on to co-write a number of pivotal songs with him. I was licensing a version of the then unreleased RS tune Right Planet, Wrong World for the Rick Springfield Tribute album (which might even get released one day). The version in question featured James Christian on vocals. Jeff and I were talking about doing an album of his songs as sung by various melodic rock singers including Stan Bush, Marcie Free and of course, Rick. Jeff says he has enough Springfield and Free tunes to almost make an album each of those, so we set about trying to bring his Marcie Free sung demo material to Angelmilk Records. It didn't work out, but Jeff suggests that Rick might go for a similar idea. He did and that's where this baby started. A deal was struck for Angelmilk to release an album of RS/JS demos before the label fell apart, so I suggested to the guys that Frontiers might be interested. They were and here we are. In setting up the track listing for this CD, songs were included that Rick wrote and produced with Jeff at his studio. These demos can be split into two parts – the Sahara Snow era “high-tech” synth tracks and those that were later included in the Karma recording sessions. The Karma tracks in particular have a strong and consistent sound reminiscent of a sound that sits between Rock Of Life and Karma. The Sahara Snow tracks that were part of the Silverman sessions were themselves an album of various outtakes and sessions. Of the Karma era tracks, Religion Of The Heart was one track I insisted be included, having had the original version before the Karma record was completed. The alternative lyric featured here and stripped back feel give a more authentic emotion to the tremendously personal track. Dancin' On The Edge Of The World is a well known unreleased RS track, previously covered by Chris Ousey (as The Distance) and Marcie Free (also unreleased). It is a brilliant straight up 80s AOR anthem that could have come from Rock Of Life; almost matched in its brilliance by Right Planet, Wrong World, which was criminally ignored until now. The Sahara Snow-like pop ballad You Write The Book was one of two unreleased-in-any-form gems included here. The more traditional power ballad Woman II is another slice of high-tech early 90s Rick. Hey Eileen is another gem that is hard to find - a killer little pop song and a tribute to Rick's mother. And the demo of Dream In Colour still features Marcie Free's backing vocals, a track Marcie has cut as a solo artist, which remains unreleased. But there are two extra tracks that are included at my request – that don't feature Jeff Silverman in any way. However, given that the album featured a couple of other Karma demos, I felt these two songs needed to be shown in their full original glory. Two of Rick's best ever songs, but better versions! My Depression is simply an astounding song, detailing Rick's life path and being brutally honest about his experiences. It was recorded almost in reggae style for the Shock Denial album – which I was completely aghast with, as had this original version a few years before it was finally officially recorded. This version is a far superior, super sonic rocker with beefed up guitar parts and a more prominent rock beat. And In Veronica's Head is another first class RS rocker that again delves into a murky subject base, but was a little more polished once the Karma record was done and mastered. This version fits the mood of the Karma demos beautifully alongside Religion, Itsalwayssomething and Depression. Plus it includes a longer and fresher guitar solo to fade out that track – showing more of that RS rock edge. I requested the inclusion of two other tracks – the absolute gem that was tagged on the end of Sahara Snow (the raw rocker Lust) and Rovianne, which both fit the Karma style demos. That request was denied on the basis Rick might re-record those for his next studio album. I hope so! And at the same time if I had my ultimate wishlist of tracks, I would have left off a couple of the more programmed/synth tracks such as Monkey and Why Don't You Dance. But then the concept of the album would be lost a little.
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| N.O.W. Force Of Nature | Escape Music ESM204 |
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I really like this album. This is a cool record. Not just because it's a very fine and classy old school melodic rock album, but because it reaches into a few different areas for inspiration, rather than just straight forward 80s AOR. There are more classic rock influences here than straight AOR – there's Queen, Foreigner and Boston even and a strong does of 70s pomp. The man behind the music Alec Mendonca and his band hail from Rio, with additional drums recorded in Sweden with producer Martin Kronlund, who mixed this record to perfection. Vocalist for the project is the always impressive Philip Bardowell, who brings a certain authentic feel to the album. In fact, I could not imagine anyone else singing these tunes. His voice is more varied than on the recent Places Of Power record and explores some darker texture, not to mention some fine Foreigner-esque moments. Song highlights are many - Listen To Your Heart has a Journey Be Good To Yourself feel mixed with 1985 American radio; Lonely Soul has that classic 70s/80s American radio feel to it – something Alliance are very good at producing; and You has a pomp/epic Queen feel to it. Idol's Grace is bombastic and dramatic and rocks pretty hard; Peace Of Mind is pure Rick Springfield AOR; No Time For Goodbyes features some of the album's better guitar work. Elsewhere I can't really pick any weaknesses. It's a diverse, dramatic and energetic record that stands on its own right now. Something a little different for melodic rock fans that are looking for something that doesn't follow the same old pattern.
And lastly and somewhat off topic - I'm getting sick of the "dot" band names – guys – just leave the dots out! But I'll forgive that in lieu of the fact this album contains some great songs.
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| Jayce Landberg Good Sleepless Night | Escape Music ESM203 |
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After being on such a positive roll, I can't in good conscience endorse this. Anyone that corrupts the glorious Goran Edman will filtered vocals and production effects needs a good talking to. Jayce's first record was just ok – I expected an upward curve for this second album, but this takes a serious dive south. The songs just don't grab me, the style is allover the show without consistency and Goran Edman has almost no impact here. The opening track is all vocal effects and horrible guitar twiddling that goes nowhere. The second is a rough and tumble grungy punk rocker. Again, Goran sounds terrible. Goran never sounds terrible! At least there is a sneak peak at his upper range squeal. Track three is a kinda grubby modern rocker with a go nowhere chorus. The Thorns is an ok 6 minute piano ballad; Invasion was sounding pretty good until the high pitch shrieking started; All I Want To Do Is You is a welcomed, almost straight forward hard rocing track, but then there's the lame lyric.
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| Wig Wam Non Stop Rock N Roll | Frontiers Records FRCD443 |
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A new Wig Wam album is now an event on the melodic rock calendar thanks to the class of the band's first two releases creating a high profile for them. A new label in Frontiers for album number 3 sees the band mix things up a little bit. I love all three albums this band has produced, and place this ahead of the debut, but someway behind the last album – despite still containing some fabulous songs. This album has a slightly different guitar tone – not tuned down at all, but darker and not as sharp as previously was the case. And the style of songs delivered here vary more so than before – with most working, but a couple less so. To describe it accurately – it sounds as if two or three solo albums have been combined to make a new band record. It isn't as focused as the first two records. That said tracks like the utterly glamtabulous anthems Do Ya Wanna Taste It and Wild One are amazing, separated on either side by the less instant, but heavier Walls Come Down and C'Mon Everybody (which I believe Flash is singing). Man In The Moon is a tasty mid-tempo ballad which leads into my favourite track of the album – the in your face, uptempo anthem Still I'm Burning. Except Teeny's on vocals here. Mixes up the album even more, but what a killer track. Would like to hear more like this and Teeny's voice is different but likable. The super fast All You Wanted and Non Stop Rock N Roll has the darker hard rock vibe of Walls Come Down while From Here is a soft acoustic ballad – a complete u-turn from the tracks preceding it. Rocket Through My Heart is a terrific uptempo rocker with a glam edge again, continued on with Chasing Rainbows (except a bigger chorus was needed here). The bonus track to close the album is Gotta Get It On – nothing that really blows me away.
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| Keel Streets Of Rock N Roll | Frontiers Records FRCD445 |
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I've never been a huge Keel fan. I have some albums, but can't pin point why they didn't get higher rotation over the years. Perhaps the gravelly vocals of Ron Keel haven't always held an appeal and the AC/DC friendly riff rocking was covered elsewhere in my collection. So their return held little expectation for me, leading me to be pretty impressed with the new album. Returning after a long absence can put a lot of pressure on a band and quite often the expectation of fans doesn't match the quality or style of what the band delivers. Not so in this case – Streets Of Rock N Roll is straight out of the Keel 80s handbook. Ron Keel may sound even raspier than ever, but he can still hold a tune with attitude and the Marc Ferrari delivered guitar parts have all the authority of the band's classic albums. The production is first rate and bursts through the speakers. There is a nice heavy rhythm section and clear lead guitar parts throughout. Song wise, the band stick to the old formula, which is what I think all fans were hoping for. Streets Of Rock N Roll features some great melodies; Hit The Ground Running has that hard rocking 80s sound, but a contemporary production; Come Hell Or High Water rocks with a uptempo swagger Kiss would be proud of; Does Anybody Believe sounds very familiar indeed (can't place it), but is a nice change of tempo with the acoustic guitars and The Devil May Care is filled with attitude. Towards the end of the album you have the super heavy Gimmie That and the melodic rocker Hold Steady, which adds further texture to the album.
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| Rock Sugar Reimaginator | RockSugar/Indie |
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Oh Lordy! Where do I start with this one? The fine gentleman of Loud & Clear (singer Jess Harnell, guitarist Chuck Duran and drummer Alex Track), together with new bassist Johnny Five have formed Rock Sugar – the ultimate metal “covers” band that were marooned on a desert island for 20 years with only a teenage girl's music collection to keep them company. The result – some seriously messed up songs – inspired and twisted at the same time – but ultimately the best party album you will ever own. This is a novelty album I guess, but due to the nature of the songs and the brilliant way they have been performed and recorded (production is mega), there is no limit to the number of times you'll spin this before moving on. And let me guarantee you that every party held, out this gem will come again, leading to several more party guests leaving with the CD on their shopping lists. It is just one of those discs you play and people freak out to before demanding a copy. What am I talking about? Well, Rock Sugar have taken some classic pop, AOR, hard rock and metal songs – all landmark tunes in their own right – and mashed them together. I think there's something like 34 songs featured on this 13 track album! This is the type of experiment that could fail with epic proportions, but I love the songs chosen here (for the most part) and I love what has been done to them (some deserved it!). Let's take a look at this – Don't Stop The Sandman – Metallica's Sandman meets Journey's Don't Stop Believin – I was about out of patience for covers of this song (there are other Journey songs people!!!), but boy, does this work a treat. The heaviest Steve Perry ever recorded right here. And Jess sounds amazing! Nice harmonies too and what kick ass guitar playing. We Will Kickstart Your Rhapsody – yes, Queen meets Queen meets Motley Crue. And of all the tracks here, this one meshes the best of all I think. Nearly 6 minutes of head crunching beats. Crazy Girl – Ozzy Osbourne (the devil) meets Rick Springfield (the golden boy). Yes, Crazy Train and Jessie's Girl in this metalled up version of the RS classic. Voices In The Jungle – I didn't pick this one until the chorus. Utterly brilliant and a great mash of metal meets melody, with the GNR classic hammering away the whole while, supplemented with lyrics from the Til Tuesday hit single Voices Carry. The chorus is purely Voices Carry – a song I absolutely love. This one works brilliantly. Here Comes The Fool You Wanted – Cinderella's Nobody's Fool mixed with Bon Jovi's Wanted Dead Or Alive and Eurythmics' Here Comes The Rain Again. Sadly there are not many good Eurythmics songs and this ain't one of them – even with Bon Jovi trying to steer it in a better direction. Not as much into this track. Shook Me Like A Prayer – AC/DC's Shook Me mixed with Madonna's Like A Prayer. This is better stuff and mashes rather well together too. Fantastic rocked up chorus of both the Madonna tune and the AC/DC chorus. Killer! Straight To Rock City – Wow, who would have thought that Paula Abdul ripped off the riff to the Kiss classic Detroit Rock City? Another unlikely pairing here, but it works and rocks along at a frantic pace. Praying For A Sweet Weekend – This is another favourite. Bon Jovi's Livin' On A Prayer mixed with Loverboy's Working For The Weekend – with Chuck on vocals here. Wonderful songs – both feel good iconic rock songs and it is amazing how well they blend together here with chorus' from both songs again featured. And adding to the mix is the lead guitar riff from GNR's Sweet Child O Mine. Yes…you have to hear this! Heaven And Heaven – the clear mixing of another two classic ballads – Heaven from Bryan Adams and Heaven from Warrant. Speaks for itself! Breakin' The Love – 10CC meets Judas Priest? That's something that probably shouldn't be contemplated unless really intoxicated, but the Rock Sugar guys make it legal for you. I Love Sugar On Me – Another one of my favourites – Joe Elliott has seldom sounded so good! This time he is joined by a very raspy Joan Jett! The groove of both songs fits like a glove and presents yet another WTF moment for your guess the next time you host a party. Round And Separated – Ratt (Round And Round) meets another iconic Journey classic in Separate Ways. Doesn't work quite as instantly as well as the first Journey track, but is still frighteningly good. Closing the album is a true epic (as it should be!) Aerosmith (Dream On) meets Supertramp (Breakfast In America) and Led Zeppelin (Whole Lotta Love) in Dreaming Of A Whole Lotta Breakfast. All three songs blended here which takes a bit of listening to, but has to be respected!
Oh and if you enjoy this albumand haven't heard of Black Sweden - look up the review! If you have that album, you need this!
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| The Murder Of My Sweet Divanity | Frontiers Records FRCD442 |
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A left turn here for Frontiers the label and for drummer Daniel Flores. This new Swedish project is more akin to Evanescence and Nightwish. The heavy, symphonic beats – both live and programmed (Flores) are matched by a deafening guitar tone of Daniel Palmqvist and the swirling keyboards of Andreas Lindahl. There is a real market for Symphonic metal in Europe and this album sounds a million dollars with its wall of sound and high end production. The subtle keyboard fills and added production effects go a long way to creating a truly interesting musical landscape. Vocal wise you cannot fault the warm and inviting vocals of Angelica Rylin. Song wise – there is so much to get into here it is hard to separate highlights. The obvious choice is the lead single Bleed Me Dry, which would be at home on radio stations worldwide. A lot to listen to here – some 54 minutes of intense music, melodies and rhythms. You'll need an ear for this style of music though. I can take it or leave it generally, but there is something very appealing about the ingredients that have come together to create this record. I dare say that number two will be even better with some live dates under their belt.
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| Bruce Kulick BK3 | Frontiers Records FRCD446 |
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I respect Bruce Kulick as a guitarist immensely, his time with Kiss was something I followed and enjoyed and since then I feel he has been an under rated participant in the rock community.
But I am struggling with this new album and have been since I first played it. I am a vocal and melody guy. If an album or song isn't driven by those two elements then I am always going to struggle. The choice of vocalists on this album and decisively modern styling's of the tunes aren't overly appealing. The opening track is simply brilliant though – a rolling hard rocker with sensational groove and a growling vocal from Bruce himself. I could easily go with more like that. But the Gene Simmons track Ain't Gonna Die doesn't do much for me at all, nor does the John Corabi acoustic driven rocker No Friend Of Mine. Nick Simmons (son of Gene) sings on the horrible grunge drenched Hand Of The King. I'll Survive is simply void of any real hook but Dirty Girl is much better. A great hook here and vocals from the now departed Knack vocalist Doug Fiegler (RIP). I'm The Animal is another grungy Kiss style rocker with some attitude. The instrumental Between The Lines (featuring Steve Lukather) is a great tune and the acoustic ballad Life is another winner, featuring a soft, understated vocal from Bruce.
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| Grand Design Time Elevation | Metal Heaven MHV00077 |
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Well, what do you know – another great band out of Sweden! This time it is Grand Design, a band featuring vocalist and main man Pelle Saether. And bugger me if this doesn't sound completely like prime era Def Leppard! From the lush harmony vocals, the lead guitars, production style and most of all the extract drum sound that the band carried through albums like Pyromania, Hysteria and Adrenalize. In fact, this album could be the natural follow-up to Adrenalize. Of course, if you are not a fan of the over-programmed stadium rock sound of Def Leppard, then this may also not appeal. But throw in a little Swedish glam flair and some higher pitched vocals (TNT-ish) and mix it with Let's Get Rocked and you'll get Grand Design. The album sounds massive, with some of the biggest choruses I have heard for sometime. Layers and layers thick with vocals. And I love the guitar sound – right off Pyromania at times, as is the mood of some of the darker tracks on here – Air It Out for example has the same vibe as Die Hard The Hunter. Tracks that stand out and kick my ass include Love Sensation (awesome); Piece of The Action (darker and heavier); Sad Sound Of Goodbye (Stage Dolls style ballad, accent in the vocals shines through here); Hello Mr Heartache (big melodic chorus) and Sheik Iddup (straight ahead stadium rocker).
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| Last Autumn's Dream A Touch Of Heaven | Escape Music ESM |
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These Swedish AORsters have taken over the reins from Harem Scarem and Heartland for their consistency in delivering a quality release each and every year. This is their seventh studio album and classic AOR album #6 (the second album remains the pink elephant). I wasn't into this album as much as I normally am early on, initially rating it as one of the band's weaker efforts. But once the infectious melodies and subtle hooks of Caught In Between, Top Of The World and Come Rain Of Shine sink in, this quickly became another favourite. And maybe one of the band's better efforts overall. The ballad Candle In The Dark is just perfect AOR; while the happy go lucky Last Mistake is a JSS tune originally written by Jeff and drummer Jamie Borger and featuring JSS on backing vox. See My Baby Jive is more akin to a 60's disco or bop-along Christmas Tune, but it works; Renegade is another passionate ballad and What's On Your Mind is a great uptempo anthem with a knockout chorus. The acoustic driven How Long is another gem and the band dip into covers again with a straight forward rip of Cheap Trick's Surrender. Closing the album is the very fine and heart touching 6 minute ballad Jenny's Eyes. A special mention has to go to bassist Nalley Pahlsson (from Treat) who stands in for Marcel Jacob (RIP). They could not have picked a better match. And once again I must say that I really am a sucker for Mickael Erlandsson's vocals. The raspy, emotional tone is just perfect for this material.
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| Tara's Secret Vertigo | Black Cat Music BCM005 |
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British melodic hard rockers Tara's Secret have been around a few years now. This is their second album and sees them leaping way ahead of the expectation curve, delivering an album that blows the first one out of the water. Indie bands are always constrained by budgets and lack of investment, but Tara's Secret obviously know their way around a studio and have made the best of what they had at their disposal. The record sounds loud and in your face, clearly mixed and features a really nice guitar tone throughout. The vocals of Johnny Trowbridge have also leapt ahead from the debut. His gritty and often raspy voice is far stronger here and has a touch of Danny Bowes (Thunder) and even Dennis DeYoung (on the big ballad The Last 2 Know – which also features Dante Fox's Sue Willetts). Wonderful song… The opening three rockers are all from the Gotthard/Whitesnake songbook – moving into that harder rock field and away from melodic rock as such. But it works – the new direction and beefed up sound has energy the debut didn't and also fills a gap in British rock n roll that Thunder will now leave behind. Album highlights include the stomping She's My Baby; the opening Rock N Roll Beauty Queen; another tasteful piano ballad One More Chance (more DDY!) and the straight ahead rocker My Reward.
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| Secret Smile This Is Our Time Now | Envision Records |
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This album suffers from the T.T. syndrome. Terrific songs – Terrible production. And that's a shame, because there really are some wonderful melodic rock songs on here, delivered in a classic 80s pop rock setting. Reminiscent of early Rick Springfield and Van Stephenson, the songs all capture a time we'd love to return to and the choruses never disappoint. But the whole thing sounds bloody terrible. Almost to the point of being unlistenable. I'd really love to see the guys go to someone like Dennis Ward with the original master files and see what could be resurrected and doing a re-release of the album. Hell, maybe I'll ask the band. It would be a shame to see these songs lost to a wider audience because the album sounds like a bad demo. The guys were shopping this album around when I was still doing A&R for Angelmilk and I said then that something had to be done about the production. It seems that never happened. Tracks like I Believe In You, Wasn't Meant To Be, Don't Want To and Heaven Only Knows are seriously good, but they are going to get lost among a very crowded field of competing releases. The problems are too numerous – the drum and cymbal sound is demo quality, the vocals are muddy and the guitars are all over the mix and at times hurt the ears. And together it just sounds empty. This might have passed the grade back in 1995 when indie bands were just getting the hang of things, but with advances in recording technology and the affordability of mix engineers today, the band have thrown away 12 great songs. Great band, but a completely wasted opportunity here and that's tragic. |
| Bon Jovi The Circle | Universal/Def Jam |
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Bon Jovi have been pretty consistent in their releasing of albums since coming back into the scene with Crush. But they have also been consistent in confusing fans by being all over the place as far as direction. It seems they are not content or convinced in their role as an iconic 80s rock band still existing and staying popular modern times. We've had the career encompassing live album (fail), the mega-box set (average), the re-workings album (epic fail), the big rock album Have A Nice Day (higher pass) and most recently the country album (mostly fail). Now we have the “big rock album” that isn't a 'big rock' album at all. Their 'rock' sound has evolved into true contemporary setting, which worked for them well when mixed with their traditional sound on Have A Nice Day (mainly due to the quality of songwriting), but fails them here on The Circle. As far as I can see it, this is a pure Jon Bon Jovi album, with side-kick Richie Sambora relegated to do as he is told alongside the other members of the band (who are they again??) JBJ has dubbed this a 'big loud rock album'. Dear, oh dear…fail! It is a rock album, but it is nothing akin to the Bon Jovi of yesteryear and doesn't come close to the great (and still contemporary) effort Have A Nice Day was. I have given this album so much airtime waiting for it to grow on me, but it just doesn't. And it isn't necessarily the new modern pop/rock sound that doesn't work for me – I just think the songwriting here is second rate compared to the band's best. In my opinion the band - sorry, JBJ – is trying too hard to be something he isn't. Bon Jovi is (was) an iconic hard rock band. Jon – just accept that! You are not Coldplay and you are not U2! Producer John Shanks has to go. It is still ok to turn the guitars up, and it is still ok to have a pounding rhythm section. And it is sure as hell is still ok to sound like you did in the old days. Right now I just see too many other bands doing what Bon Jovi used to do, only better and here in the now (Winger, Kiss, Gotthard, Danger Danger). Track By Track: We Weren't Born To Follow is most likely a left over from the last few albums as it didn't cut the grade then, easily surpassed by It's My Life and Have A Nice Day. When We Were Beautiful is the worst offender for the band wanting to be Coldplay. I really like the possibilities here, but the vocals are whiney and the underlying guitars are tragically underutilized and should have exploded into the track. The song builds mood and suspense and then wastes it all by going nowhere. Work For The Working Man sees the band ripping themselves off with the bass line for You Give Love A Bad Name before disappearing into a bland chorus better suited for a John Mellencamp album. Superman Tonight has been heralded as the song of the album and it is a decent mid-tempo sentimental rocker. But personally, I don't feel that sentiment – it's all a little flat. Finally a hard rocker even if it is only mid-tempo. Bullet has a promising beat to kick things off before sounding like a rip-off of themselves yet again – this time Keep The Faith. The guitars kick in briefly, but the chorus just doesn't sound right at all. It sounds forced and is completely ineffective. Thorn In My Side is where the band sounds most natural on this record. Although filled with a modern tone, the beat kicks the song along nicely and the chorus is actually worth remembering. The mid-tempo breezy storyteller track Live Before You Die is a JBJ solo tune if there ever has been one. Typical JBJ themes of life and love and a replication of other songs included on each of the band's recent albums. Lush orchestration lifts the track beyond the standard ballad, but very safe generally. Brokenpromiseland has a cool name and I expected something cool from it. I was disappointed though when the song became another Coldplay/U2 modern rocker. And why is JBJs vocals really annoying on this record? I used to love this band and his delivery. Love's The Only Rule has a great beat and an in your face tempo, and is a more quality track, despite being a long way from the band's classic sound. But it also shows that no matter what the style, if you can deliver great songs, the rest will come with it. This album needed more songs like this. Fast Cars is a sappy Coldplay style pop rocker that does absolutely nothing for me and is a huge drop in quality after the last track. Happy Now tries to rock, but it largely forgettable and falls into the same tempo/vein as 4 or 5 other songs on the album. Learn To Love is another forgettable formulatic Bon Jovi ballad with a modern twist.
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| Blackwood Creek Blackwood Creek | Frontiers Records FRCD438 |
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Kip Winger is smack in the middle of a real purple-patch of quality songwriting. Fresh off the acclaim and glory of a killer new Winger album, Kip goes way back to where it all began and puts together his old childhood band that disbanded in 1980. As you would expect, Blackwood Creek have a slightly different sound than both that of Winger and Kip's more intense solo work. It features elements of both, but the band has its own straight ahead rock sound, uncluttered by layers of unnecessary effects (in this case), sticking to the basic premise of a great song delivered without fuss. Delivering the chemistry of a seasoned touring band, Blackwood Creek is driven by a hard edged guitar, pumping rhythm section and Kip's distinct vocals – in this case sounding like a mix between the grittier recent Winger style and his more melodic solo style. The urgent, uptempo Out In Outer Space has a great beat and strong chorus, sliding into the more acoustic driven Def Leppard melody of Nothing But The Sun. Your Revolution is another amazing song, the partnership of Winger and guitarist Peter Fletcher delivering some true quality songwriting and more memorable hooks. Dead Stung and Jimmy and Georgia feature a groovy modern vibe, while the dreamy acoustic ballad After Your Heart has sentiment in spades. The dual lead vocals on Albatross works well, the moody verse giving in to a hook filled chorus. The trio of rough and ready rockers - Rich and Greed, Joy Ride and Love Inspector get a little rawer and in your face and take the album in a different direction. Then things close with a 6 minute acoustic/electric experimental mood piece where the guys get to flex some musical muscle.
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| Spin Gallery Embrace | Frontiers Records FRCD441 |
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In many ways the new Spin Galley mirrors the story behind On The Rise. Several years since the debut, the band is now without key vocalist, songwriter and founding member Chris Antblad (pursuing a writing and solo career) and finds itself having to prove themselves all over again as a fresh project. But comparisons to the debut are always going to be made as the name remains the same. Chris wasn't interested in working as Spin Gallery again, nor was third vocalist Magnus Weidenmo, but Tommy and Kristoffer enjoyed working together and wanted to continue the name. The debut (recorded for Atenzia Records) was a wonderfully slick slice of contemporary Westcoast pop/AOR with that dual vocalist approach used to great affect. The new album is definitely a different affair. Primarily Tommy Denander on all instruments and programming and vocalist Kristoffer Langerstrom, Embrace continues the Westcoast style of the debut; with a strong Toto influence (Tommy's guitar tone and solos and the percussion arrangements in particular). There is credit to Glen Marks for 'Live Drums', but to my ear a lot of the album remains heavily programmed in the same style as other Denander projects as Radioactive, Los Angeles and AOR. Same goes for the overall sound of the album and Tommy's trademark guitar/keys/bass sound. You know what to expect there. I'm not blown away by the production – I think it is ok and is mixed well, but those not enamored with the Denander sound will find the same challenges here to overcome. And the quality of production does vary through the album. There are moments of high-tech precision and other tracks like Eyes Wide Open which sound rather low budget. Vocalist Langerstrom has one hell of a unique voice. While I think he sang beautifully on the debut album in conjunction with Chris Antblad, thrust into the spotlight here on his own, there is not as much variety on offer. The higher range and whispering approach isn't going to be for all. Those aspects discussed, there are some strong songs on offer here – the songwriting has again proven to be Tommy and Kristoffer's strong point. There is no denying the melodies and hooks within are numerous and some very catchy Denander style AOR is on offer here – Embrace, Just A Momentary Why (featuring Robin Beck in duet on lead vocals), You Do The Things You Do (marvelous hook, and featuring Dan Reed on sultry vocals!), Tic Toc (moody coolness) and the glorious chorus hook of Everything Fades are all worth checking out.
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| On The Rise Dream Zone | Frontiers Records FRCD439 |
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A mere 6 years since On The Rise's debut album comes the follow-up – Dream Zone. Some changes have taken place since the debut – not long after the release of the acclaimed self titled album, the duo of Terje Eide (lead & background vocals, guitars) and Bennech Lyngboe (lead & background vocals) split, leaving Terje as the lone member and driving force behind the name. The new album has familiar elements to that of the debut – the style is certainly the same – commercial, light and breezy 80s European AOR, but this time there is only one vocalist. The production style is also different – this album still has a consistent sound, but this time a more stripped back and less polished style. A little rougher and a little rawer. I prefer the slick sound of the debut, but that's ok. I'm enjoying this album for what it is – a classic style AOR release with a European flavor and there are some more fine songs on here. Lifeline and Lost Your Track are both terrific Survivor-esque tracks co-written by rising star Christian Wolff. Fly Away and Why Wait Another Day are also great melodic rock tunes with distinct chorus hooks. Why Wait is the third Wolff co-write and an album highlight. The moody and mellow Howling At The Moon is another highlight featuring one of the better harmony vocal displays. The closing bonus track Find A Way is maybe the best track of the whole album – not sure why it is relegated to bonus track status at the end of the album. Very cool Mecca style AOR. It between these highlights are some ok tracks, but I must say that those highlighted are all co-writes. Terje is a terrific guy, but perhaps he benefits most from working with a co-writer. Some of the tunes penned by himself struggle to flow as easily as the others and the chorus hooks are not as immediate. There is just something missing and I sense that in several places throughout the album.
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| Mr. Big Back To Budokan | Frontiers Records FRCD427 |
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How many times have they said it will never happen? Never say never – especially in this business! Best thing about this killer double live album is the chemistry clearly on display between the band members – dispelling any cynical conclusion that the re-union is just for money and not for the sake of making great music again and celebrating music already made. The band has an incredible catalogue of tunes and the best are on display here – live favourites and some deep album cuts in-between the obvious hit singles. And after several years break, it's great to hear how fresh the songs sound and how rocking these guys really are. Like many bands of the era, they got some stick from the uneducated for having a hit ballad to their name. Patooey! At the heart of Mr. Big is four rock music icons and rock is what they do best. I love this band with a passion, dating back to their debut album and even Eric Martin as a solo artist before that. Despite my geographical disability, I managed to see the band live on their Lean Into It tour – one of my favourite shows ever! And they are on fire again here. This is a lengthy set list that sees solos and improvisation sit alongside the regular songs with ease and although not a fan of solos too much per se, I really do enjoy them in this setting. Best tracks here is a subjective choice, depending on what your personal favourites are – but for me its Take Cover, Green Tinted Sixties Mind, Promise Her The Moon, Addicted To That Rush, Colorade Bulldog and their now classic cover of The Who's Baba O'Reily…just to name a few!
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| Dare Arc Of The Dawn | Legend Records/NL Distribution |
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Never ever count the years between Dare albums – it will only leave you frustrated and feeling old. But thankfully 2009 is an “on” year and Dare have returned with another accomplished dose of highly produced, super-slick British AOR to feast upon and keep your ears happy until at least 2012! Darren Wharton really is the master of personal lyrics and haunting melodies, wrapped in layers and layers of keyboards and guitar parts. Dare's sound is unique and unmistakable. And on Arc Of The Dawn, the band has not deviated from the formula that got them this far. I really love this band, but started feeling some frustration at the lack of variety and the ever softening structure of their songs over the last album or two. I'm thankful that Darren Wharton has turned that around somewhat and mixed up the tempo here and has also re-introduced guitar as the dominant instrument of most songs. There was some confusion if original guitarist Vinny Burns was to record guitar parts for this album and as soon as I heard it, I presumed he had. But I'm assured that time did not allow that to happen and the duties for this album were handled entirely by Richie Dews. Congrats Richie – you sound fabulous and the more prominent guitar takes me back to the excellent Calm Before The Storm album. Dublin and Shelter In The Storm really are stand out tracks of pure Dare brilliance. When likewise. And the huge ballad Still Waiting is just brilliant, with the guitar parts lifting the song into orbit mid-way through. The only disappointments I have to register here is the repeat performance of the songs King Of Spades and I Will Return (Return This Heart) from the debut album. I know the reasoning behind this, but I have those tracks already and they will never be beaten. The reworking of Thin Lizzy's Emerald into a moody Dare style track is more acceptable and really very cool. And another cover is included, with a fairly straight-forward cover of the classic Cheap Trick ballad The Flame. Some will love this, others not, but it's fair to say that the song fits Darren Wharton's voice and style to a tee and personally I rate it highly.
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| Mike Tramp The Rock N Roll Cirkuz | Sony Denmark |
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Mike's going to kill me for this. I've previously been painted as a Tramp fan-boy due to my very positive reviews and coverage of Mike's music. And I guess that is true to a point – I love Mike's solo work and I grew up on White Lion and rate Recovering The Wasted Years as one of the finest solo records of the decade. But here is proof that I will always call it as I see it – regardless of who the album review is for. And with The Rock N Roll Circuz, I feel that Mike has shifted into a direction I'm not as keen on and think that some classy songwriting has been affected by choice of musical direction. In part – the part where this album really works – Mike returns to the storytelling feel of his Recovering and More To Life Than This albums, delving into the Springsteen meets the more laid back White Lion approach that gives Mike his solo sound. Lyrically Mike sticks to his familiar theme of life, love and doing it all for Rock n Roll. Songwise, the one minute intro track is of little consequence, but the opening All Of My Life is just golden. Everything I love about Mike's work and about rock n roll in general. Back To You has a more modern approach, but is still 100% Mike and another winner. Come On is the first sign that other musical elements have crept into the music, with a slight mid-west country feel in play. Still, another memorable song. Anymore is a heartfelt ballad, with acoustic guitars driving the song and strings bringing that country feel to the forefront. Highway is another uptempo sing-along favourite – not as prominent with the acoustic influence and rocking along nicely. Elsewhere on the album is the mid-west/country tinged ballads of The Road and Wiseman; while Rockabilly gets a run on No Tomorrow and Sunshine; and John Mellencamp gets a nod with Between Good N Bad and Lay Down Your Guns. More traditional Tramp fare comes in the form of the haunting orchestral ballad When She Cries, featuring a wonderfully heartfelt vocal.
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| Los Angeles Neverland | Frontiers Records FRCD437 |
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I was pretty kind to the debut Los Angeles album – despite featuring the worst CD cover in living memory. Glad that has improved this time around… The album also features a better production effort from Fabrizio Grossi and a majority of original songs co-written by lead vocalist Michele Luppi, rather than covers. Tommy Denander is back in full flight as lead guitarist – so you know what to expect there. So, good guitar playing, decent production (although it does sound a little sterile at times) and some good song choices. So why doesn't it quite all come together properly? Great question and one I'm not sure I can fully answer, despite giving this album a lot of attention prior to writing the review. I think that at the heart of it, the CD just doesn't flow very well. This sounds more like a collection of songs rather than a record crafted from start to finish. And despite being quite fond of Italian vocalist Luppi's vocal tone (and undeniable power), I can't help but get side tracked by the extremely poor pronunciation on these songs. In places the pronunciation is among the absolute worst I have heard from any European singer attempting to sing in English. It's very obvious – especially where he tries to cover Richard Marx (Noting To Hide) and Wait For You (another Martin Brothers gem) that it sounds horrible. Shame to make a point of that and I didn't mention that issue when reviewing the debut, but here I find it very distracting. I think there are some great songs here, but it is the delivery of them and the fact I don't think the album flows very well that effects my enjoyment of the album as a whole. Highlights as they stand on their own two feet are the ballad Promises; the aforementioned Wait For You (accent aside); the feel good AOR anthem Higher Love and Welcome To My Life. Special mention must go to keyboardist Eric Ragno who is all over this record and makes it that much better for his involvement. The keyboard fills throughout the album really are a joy and are beautifully mixed in within the layers of the songs.
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| 101 South No U-Turn | AOR Heaven 00039 |
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Another incredibly hard review for me to write as founding member, songwriter and keyboardist Roger Scott Craig is a wonderful guy and a strong advocate for musician's rights and anti-downloading laws. And between the bands Fortune, Harlan Cage and 101 South, he has recorded some world class AOR music that to this day I still enjoy. For me the pinnacle was Harlan Cage's Forbidden Colours. The side project from HC was 101 South, featuring vocalist Gregory Lynn Hall. The two albums preceding this one featured a slicker, softer sound than Harlan Cage, but with that same moody overtone. The new album No U-Turn keeps that style in tact, but falls a long way short of its predecessors due to seriously below par production quality. End Of The Game, From What You Know Now and When You're In Love are prime examples of what could have been with a better sound. The vocals are up front in the mix, but Hall sounds a lot rougher than I remember him being. Very raspy this time around. Musically, the instrumentation lacks punch and the drums are really placid, rather than being the driving force behind the music. There are still some highlights on offer – the seriously good classic moody, mid-tempo AOR of Lonely Heart for one. Just wish it had a bigger sound behind it. What Are You Gonna Do Anyway could have been pomp anthem of the year if given the full production treatment previous albums received. Yesterday's Gone is another uptempo track with comparisons to Harlan Cage, but the programmed drums and the guitars buried in the back of the mix just destroy it. The great Chris Thompson takes over lead vocals for the haunting ballad Blue Skies, which is one of the stronger songs of the album.
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| Mastedon 3 | Frontiers Records FRCD432 |
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I haven't had any prior experience with Mastedon – just one of those bands you miss from time to time. But I love John Elefante's voice! Who can forget his incredible Young And Innocent track from the St. Elmo's Fire soundtrack, his other more melodic Elefante project and of course production work with Petra and being a two time member of Kansas. Mastedon in 2009 is a fair distance from the two hard rocking albums from nearly 20 years back. Mastedon 3 is more reflective of an artist that has matured and takes in all of Elefante's musical influences over the years. This is one mighty fine record that is a little traditional AOR, a little pomp and a little progressive. The end result is a superb sounding record with some epic moments, some breathtaking arrangements, big harmonies and a brilliant vocal performance from John. The album impresses on a number of levels. The production and crisp mix are spot on and John's vocals are just heavenly – power and melody at the same time. The organ soaked melody of Revolution Of Mind is just about everything I love about this kinda of music – genius stuff. The 6 minute Nowhere Without Your Love is epic AOR with one of the year's biggest and most passionate chorus harmonies. Truly immense and glorious to the note. A definite Kansas influence here, but nowhere near as much as the 10 minute true epic that follows – One Day Down By The Lake. This tune is absolutely classic 70s rock and classic Kansas, even featuring Kerry Livgren on guitar. The heart pumping Water Into Wine rocks, while It's About Time offers another true vocal highlight of 2009. Then another highlight in You Can't Take Anything. Great lead guitar courtesy of Dave Amato and another sensational vocal that wraps around the harmony of the song and strengthens it. Lying is yet another winner, making this one of the most consistent records of the year. That's What You Do is another feel good melodic rocker with a punchy verse, but melodically blissful chorus. Closing the album is a really inspired, haunting cover of the Kansas classic Dust In The Wind. Magic!
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| Blanc Faces Falling From The Moon | Frontiers Records FRCD431 |
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The La Blanc Brothers delivered a strong classic AOR themed debut album three years back. A little too much time between records, the legacy of Blanc Faces hinged on the duo delivering an album to prove the debut was no one-off and they were capable of continuing to deliver. Well, Falling From The Moon does deliver. There are no surprises here and nothing we didn't hear on the debut, but that's ok. The formula remains intact, but this time around everything has been done better. The production is much stronger and the super crisp mix (from Dennis Ward) gives every layer room to breathe. The performances are terrific – especially the vocals and the songwriting. The album delivers some highly catchy commercial American AOR. You don't get much better than the opening duo of I Come Alive and Falling From The Moon. The vocals have a little Mecca/Joe Vana feel to them, letting emotions come to the fore in the ballad Everything. It's All About The Love showcases the extreme commerciality of the record, with 80s keys giving the album its poppiest moments. It's here and a few times elsewhere that things tend to get a little cheesy, but that is outweighed by the gems like the moodier Deep In The Heart. That's where I'd like to see the guys take their music – the punchier side of things, such as this track, Don't Take It Away and I Come Alive. The Survivor-esque ballad Light Of The World is another superb moodier track and I Will is like Glass Tiger goes Midwestern AOR. The big ballad Fly is another Mecca moment and closes the album in style.
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| Markonee See The Thunder | Escape Music ESM199 |
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This is one of those albums that needs repeat listens to appreciate. I didn't get into it at all first couple of listens, but over time it does reveal its charms. See The Thunder is what you would have to describe as a fairly straight forward hard rock release from this Italian outfit. The album is self produced, but mixed and mastered by Beau Hill, so the sound is pretty tight. It is one of those to the point, no frills affairs. Not the catchiest material ever, nor the best musicians ever, but overall very neat and tidy and something that is going to appeal to fans of European hard rock. The vocals of Gabriele Gozzi need a little getting used to. When he's at his best he sounds a little like Little Angels' frontman Toby Jepson – and the band has that melodic guitar/bass/drum sound that Little Angels had. The punchy hard rocker Shores Of Another Sea best illustrate this, as does the following sleaze rocker The Big K. There's some good rock n roll highlights in The Cross Between The Lies and the more melodic Brand New Day and the keyboard lite Cherry Blossom. Closer I Believe In Father Christmas has nothing to do with Christmas at all, but still manages to deliver a good strong chorus and closes the album with a punch.
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| Angel House The Gun, The Love And The Cross | Escape Music ESM200 |
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Angel House has been around several years and this is their second full length release. Based in Birmingham, UK, the band centers their sound around traditional British hard rock and a dash of bluesy free flowing sleaze, a la The Almighty and AC/DC. I must say that I have tried and tried, but I'm still struggling with this album. I just don't see it having the wider appeal of some other titles released this year. Rough and gruff vocalist Pete Easthope is one issue – I don't feel his voice is strong enough to make any kind of impact. The music itself is ok – but very loose, very raw and very underdone as far as production. The energy of the record is undeniable and I imagine these guys would sound much better live. But on record it falls a little flat and is missing that sonic impact required to elevate what are some decent songs into another league. Lots of guitar here and a loose, energetic feel and definitely designed to be played loud.
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| Kings Of Modesty Hell Or Highwater | Escape Music ESM |
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A strong debut here – made more credible no doubt by the several years of playing together the band has under their belt. Kings Of Modesty are a big, loud in your face rock band from Finland – specializing in the style of melodic metal that has made big names out of Leverage, Nightwish and Jorn Lande. There are strong melodic ties here – lead vocalist is Jason Flinck of Brother Firetribe (Bassist) and the album is mixed by Leverage guitar wizard Torsti Spoof with Jari Mikkola. The sound is obviously big and the tempo matches. This is an at-times furious, kick drum fuelled assault on the senses, with soaring vocals, huge guitar riffs and solos plus a pounding, relentless rhythm section. But all the while the vocals of Flinck keeps things melodic and flowing. Never Touched The Rainbow may be the boisterous opener, but Hourglass is my pick for melody driven metal. What I like about this album and others that I've rated well over the years, is the band's ability to really deliver some heavy tunes, but always produce a memorable hook and chorus to come back to. The keyboard friendly Staring Eyes is a great example of that. In between some melodic numbers are true metal epics like Hell Or High Water and Miracle. The only slower numbers are the moody Once Upon A Time and the closing ballad Two Hearts Collide.
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| W.E.T. W.E.T. | Frontiers Records FRCD434 |
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It has been more than two years since I handed out a perfect score. I don't do these things lightly. But there is no doubt in my mind that this album represents the highest quality possible – the songwriting, performance energy, production are all perfect in my eyes and most importantly, I feel that this album pushes the melodic rock genre forward. Without forward movement we are all doomed to do nothing but reflect on past glories and we can't do that forever. Albums like this are exactly what is needed to keep the genre fresh and invigorated. I have had the advantage of having this record since June, so it has well and truly had time to sink in and grow on me. I have been listening to it almost continually since then and still want to keep putting it on over and over. I have different favourite songs from week to week and haven't tired of one track on here. If the 700 news blurbs have escaped your attention, W.E.T. is Robert Sall (songwriting) of Work Of Art representing the 'W'; chief brains trust and multi-instrumentalist/guitarist/producer/songwriter Erik Martensson from Eclipse representing the 'E' and songwriter/vocalist Jeff Scott Soto representing the 'T' as in Talisman. The band evolved from an idea out of the Frontiers Records office, who had the continued desire for JSS to deliver a melodic rock record, when the singer wanted to expand his solo name into other styles. Eclipse and Work Of Art were two of the bands of 2008 – both of which delivering critically acclaimed albums that were also snapped up by hungry fans. With the project line-up settled, demos were commenced and it wasn't long before genuine chemistry developed and the project become a band. The songwriting here is nothing short of brilliant. Chief writers Erik Martensson and Robert Sall along with Miqael Persson with have assembled an amazing array of songs. Performing the songs, you get the very best of Jeff Scott Soto's power and passion, and the master Erik Martensson is simply on fire. The Eclipse album was a monument to melodic hard rock craftsmanship, but he's gone one step further here. What I love is that the album contains moments of AOR passion, but isn't restricted to just being an AOR release. There are some truly heavy moments here, which are made more commercial and catchy by the team involved. And this isn't an old-school release. Erik's ability to update that classic sound and drive it into the future with powerhouse rhythm and production effects makes this an equally classic and contemporary release. Track By Track: Invincible starts off very calmly and builds…sounds very melodic…then bang! We're underway. Great sounding guitars, powerful rhythm section, vocals right up in the mix and JSS sounding more melodic than he ever has. More so than Eyes, more so than Prism. He's back into that higher range and really pushes his vocals to the limit, yet it sounds absolutely natural and 100% engaging. And you know you can't help but sing along – in fact, to the whole album. I'm always tired when I get to the end of this record from singing along. One Love is simply brilliant. Pure melodic rock songwriting brilliance. The verse features some memorable vocal lines, but the chorus soars higher than ever expected and goes right over the top – all layered in harmonies. Brothers In Arms is – like most of the tracks here – another glorious slice of harmony drenched melodic rock in the finest tradition of the genre. The chorus is immense again and the mid-song bridge/instrumental passage is powerful, moody and hard rocking, all within the same two minute setting. And the final chorus just blows the lid off everything to date. It is time for a chance of pace and Comes Down Like Rain is just that. A soft, sultry vocal whispers over some subtle instrumentation. The first chorus is almost not there – it sends chills up your spine and it isn't until 2 minutes into the song that things blow up. And what a heart wrenching chorus it is. Things turn heavier with a big guitar solo before going completely soft again – brilliant songwriting again in play. Running From The Heartache is pure Steve Perry/Journey, or pure classic AOR at any rate. Smooth, mid-tempo keyboard drenched AOR with another killer bridge/chorus arrangement and harmonies through the roof. After smooth American AOR of the previous track, the urgent I'll Be There has a more European feel to it, but is equally melodic. And yes, another bloody huge chorus with a big soaring JSS vocal, reaching into those higher than high ranges again. The latter half of the song is filled with solos and gets heavier, leading perfectly into two of the heaviest tracks on the album. Damage Is Done just rocks. The sound isn't far from Eclipse and represents another European twist. The straight ahead rocker is a definite 'album track', but is placed perfectly to make the flow of the album just brilliant. Then…it's The Who….no its Whitesnake! The intro to Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is is just pure energy and the verse vocal is stamped with authority. The chorus isn't as big as some earlier tracks, but the tempo and direction of the track makes it equally infectious. The last part of the album goes heavy, melodic, heavy, melodic…and One Day At A Time is the track to take a breather on. Holy shit does this song get to me. This is the big power ballad of the album and features a chorus with harmonies to high I never thought I would ever hear JSS sing like this. This is noting short of stunning and one of the great ballads of the last few years. Time to rock again and the heaviest track on the album is the double time rhythm of Just Go. With a pumping riff kicking it off and a raspy vocal throughout, the song powers along, albeit with a prominent keyboard riff joining in. The chorus is furious and the drumming outstanding. My Everything sees the guys step back into pure American AOR, in a similar vein to Running From The Heartache. More layered harmonies, backing vocals a big chorus make it yet another winner. This breathtaking album closes with one of the songs of the decade. If I Fall is W.E.T.'s very own Don't Stop Believin'. Clocking in at over 6 minutes, this is pure feel good, uptempo AOR gold! It starts slow and builds with a Neal Schon-like guitar riff, piano, drums and then that vocal. Steve Perry is back and singing his lungs out. The song sounds like it could have come from Trial By Fire or Perry's For The Love Of Strange Medicine, but the chorus is pure Escape! Harmonies, layers of vocals, a feel good lyric and JSS' monster voice. Even better the regular song structure winds up at about the 3 minute mark and guitars take over. JSS sings the hamonies over an extended Journey-esque lead guitar break that runs until the song closes. What a stunning way to finish the album. This song is a huge middle finger to Journey – as if to state – 'hey, you wanted the heritage sound, here it is…' Soto has never sounded so soulful and powerful as he does here. Steve Perry goes metal…
I have only ever handed out perfect scores on 7 previous occasions and the last was 3 years ago! (Danger Danger x 2; Harem Scarem x 2; TNT; Toto; Mecca). That's how much I believe in this album.
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| Winger Karma | Frontiers Records FRCD429 |
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It was the amazing Pull album that had me thinking Winger were truly an underrated band and it was Kip's solo album Thiscoversationseemslikeadream that convinced me that Kip was a genius at capturing moods and emotions and was always going that one step further creatively in order to create a masterpiece. Winger's comeback album IV provided fans with something more to chew on, although some didn't like the taste as much as the band's earlier work. But on Karma, the band comes full circle, retracing the uptempo stadium sounds that influenced the first two albums, and mixing that with the intensity and darker mood of Pull, plus a little of the contemporary vibe of IV. The result is a highly contagious and engrossing record that should please fans of every era of the band's history – this truly is one album for the fans. Karma is a tough, gritty hard rock record, with more emphasis placed on guitars than just about any other Winger release. It also features Kip almost growling into the mike on occasion – reinforcing a tough, 'live in the studio' feel that the songs resonate. For the record – there are still plenty of Kip's silky smooth vocals too and some passionate balladry, but for the most part, this is just a great, in your face, loud rock n roll record. The opening riff-tastic salvo of Deal With The Devil and Stone Cold Killer are two of the hardest rocking Winger tracks to date and really get the heart pumping. Big World Away is one of those modern/meets melodic tracks that could have fit onto Winger IV, but has the melodic chorus of something off Pull. Kip's verse vocal is almost a rap/shout – only he could get away with this! The song has an amazing late bridge guitar solo that further demonstrates the dominance of guitars on this record. Come A Little Closer is another astounding track filled with production effects, layers of vocals and melodies. Another moody old-meets-new rocker. Pull Me Under just flat out rocks! The chorus is melodic bliss and the dual finger shred guitar solo is breathtaking. After a series of rather short songs, the album finds its first epic in the 6 minute Supernova – a slow and sultry song that takes a while to hit its peak. Always Within Me is another moody, slow starting track that could easily have come from either of the last 2 albums, with the added bonus of an amazing chorus. Feeding Frenzy is dark, heavy and gives the album a hard rock hit before closing with two more reflective, intense epics. The first being the 6 minute ballad After All This Time – an earthy, organ filled slow rock ballad with some classy soloing throughout. Then the 7 minute kicker Witness. Wow! What a massive haunting musical landscape with lush vocals, layers of instrumentation and then a beyond massive guitar solo from Reb Beach – the guy can seriously play. One of the best solos in recent memory here. Closing the album is a two minute piano instrumental First Ending.
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| Jaded Heart Perfect Insanity | Frontiers Records FRCD430 |
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On their third studio album with new singer Johan Fahlberg, Jaded Heart has once and for all ditched the sound that made them popular to start with. Gone is the melodic rock/melodic hard rock sound of the Bormann era. They have gradually stepped into a heavier arena and with Perfect Insanity the transformation is complete. Jaded Heart is now a melodic metal outfit, competing with the likes of Edguy and Yngwie Malmsteen. There is a surprising amount of shredding on this record (in a good way), but also not enough emphasis on killer hooks for the choruses. The unfortunate thing here is that no matter how good this album might have been, it will still divide the fan base as some of the melodic rockers will simply not want to hear a metal outfit. The album needed to be an absolute classic to bring in new fans and I don't think it is convincing enough to do that. Perfect Insanity is a monster sounding record – the production really is quite special. And the guitars are world class, ear damaging quality. And Johan's vocals do suit this new direction. There is a lot to appreciate on this record. But at the end of the day, the band fall short (once again) on the songwriting. The first half of the record kicks ass, but then it kinda runs out of steam. That's if you are still listening due to the style change. Love is a Killer is a terrific big heavy anthem with the necessary harmony in the chorus to make it a winner. Fly Away is about 2 minutes too long, but still remains a solid metal track. Blood Stained Lies is another good double-time rocker with decent chorus and some harmony vocals. Tonight is the band doing it slower, while retaining the heaviness. It work |
