Another of the hard working regulars of this scene is one Steve Newman. And he’s consistently delivered quality music year after year and is at it once again on The Elegance Machine.
Picking up where they left off with Siren, this album holds the same musical outlook that The Art Of Balance and Under Southern Skies both did.
So you know what you are going to get – a collection of punchy, guitar and keyboard driven melodic rock songs, with Steve’s distinctive voice and his layered harmony style choruses.
And as usual the album mixes uptempo harder tunes like The Suit, Illuminate and Confess alongside commercial melodic rock such as The Elegance Machine, Pretender Surrender and Send Us Salvation.
Moody tracks such as Halo and She Walks In Silence are balanced between the appearance of two cracking AOR numbers Don’t Stay Lonely and One Good Reason.
What I’m really enjoying on this album is the warmth of Steve’s voice on a few of the tracks (The Elegance Machine and Prayer For Apollo in particular).
Speaking of which, Prayer For Apollo is brilliant – this is a quirky track with a haunting intro and a brilliant anthemic chorus. A definite instant highlight.
Another winning slice of British classic melodic rock and AOR from one of the genre’s most reliable writers. If you own one, you must own them all. Now go get this latest opus.
