I’ve been a registered Crazy Lixx fan from day 1. I think the band shot themselves in the foot with their musical left turn on the third album Riot Avenue and have spent the last two albums re-establishing the sound their first two set up. Now we have album number six already! Forever Wild is the new definitive Crazy Lixx album.

The new lineup established with Ruff Justice has gelled and whatever the guys had in mind for this album, as far as delivering something great for fans, they’ve nailed it. If there’s a better album in this space this year, I’ll be surprised. This is an album that has one glorious hook filled anthem after another.

There’s some variety in among the songs and some longer than others which are cool to explore. The band in my mind is getting close to their Swedish friends H.E.A.T for sheer enjoyment and bringing the old school ‘fun factor’ to melodic hard rock.

Fantastic album from start to finish without a filler in sight. Anthems, choruses and hooks from the opening riff to the closing beat. Brilliant!

Guitarist and founder Andreas Gullstrand said Creye have never sounded better and I’d have to agree. The superb pure Scandi-AOR debut has been bettered and expanded upon on ‘Creye II’ and the transition to new vocalist August Rauer seems complete with no interruption to the sonics or pure AOR fans fell in love with the minute the band were introduced to the world.

Creye ‘II’ uses a more contemporary production template, with more effects, some programming that give it a strong modern edge, but the songs and the vocals especially are pure 80s at heart.

The upbeat and free flowing tempo give the album a sense of urgency, and with only one ballad you might think its overkill. But the fact is there is so much texture within the songs, moments of reflection, big choruses, passages of moodier moments and then some moments of more prominent guitar, which comes as a contrast to the layers upon layers of keyboards and piano.

So many song highlights to speak of. At 13 tracks it might seem a little long, but the album clocks in at 42 minutes, so these songs are all straight down to the business of delivering heartfelt emotions and big choruses.

All in all, this is quite wonderful ‘old school contemporary’ record wrapped in the pure keyboard driven AOR of Scandi-80s pop/rock and the programming and production techniques of today. The production and mix are first rate, which is vital to making the record sound so fresh. It could easily have been a muddy mess if not done correctly.

Bruce Mee is one of the better-known personalities behind the scenes of the melodic rock world. Starting with Now & Then Records he moved into his role as owner and editor of the now iconic Fireworks Magazine, which has dedicated fans worldwide.

Circle Of Friends is the moniker given to this project, put together by Bruce as a tribute to his late mother, who died of cancer in 2020. The majority of the singers and musicians appearing on the album are personal friends of Bruce’s and were all willing to help bring this wonderful concept to life – hence the title.

Of the 13 tracks featured on this wonderful slice of melodic beauty, four are covers and the remaining 9 are originals, most written by Sweden’s Mikael Rosenberg. Mikael has delivered some terrific songs here and his presence throughout gives the album a certain connectivity and consistency that some various artists projects don’t manage to pull off.

The lineup is really a who’s who of the melodic rock world. The rhythm section is supplied by drummer Josh Devine (Levara) and bassist Wayne Banks (Saxon etc) while Fredrik Folkare and Steve Morris provide guitars with Joel Hoekstra (Whitesnake) and Steve Mann guesting. Backing vocals come from Mick Devine (Seven), Gary Hughes (Ten) and Kevin Chalfant (Storm). Eric Ragno is here on keyboards and there’s many more. Read the full bio for all the credits!

All this has been meticulously put together by producer Khalil Turk of Escape Music with a phenomenal mix by Fredrik Folkare.

To the vocalists. There is the Queen of Metal, Doro Pesch, delivering the high energy opener ‘Little Piece of Heaven’, Jaime Kyle brings her own song ‘Take My Love To Heart’ to the CD, with backing vocals supplied by Kevin Chalfant (The Storm, Two Fires). James Christian gives one of my favourite pomp-friendly vocals on ‘Never Gonna Make Me Cry’; Jeff Scott Soto goes full melodic on ‘Bad Blood’ and Robin Beck (with James Christian on backing) does a ripping version of the Abba classic ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’.

New star to the scene, Tao’s Karen Fell delivers the moody AOR of ‘Truth Or Dare’ and Robin McAuley knocks the big ballad ‘Alone’ right out of the park.

Canadian great Darby Mills delivers what she calls one of her favourite vocals on the big 80s anthem ‘Trick Of The Light’.

There are no fillers here, so discover the rest for yourself. Credit to everyone involved for making a really consistent, ‘contemporary’ classic 80s melodic rock record with plenty of keyboards, layers of harmonies and some outstanding lead vocal performances.

Production and mix are spot on and the songs are enjoyable from start to finish. The dominance of female lead vocals will give fans of that genre something extra to smile about.

PRE-ORDER: https://www.the-music-shop.net

Singer James Durbin has been involved with several projects already that have recently come and gone (Quiet Riot, Durbin) and now his name has been thrown into the ‘Frontiers Random Band Generator’, throwing out the band Cleanbreak, again produced and arranged by in-house go to guy Alessandro Del Vecchio.

Do something often enough and you’ll get it right some of the time. For the projects like Skills that just haven’t worked, there are some that have. Iconic is one that has this year and now that’s joined by Cleanbreak.

I know how hard it is to keep up with all the projects and bands Frontiers throws at us, but Durbin teaming with Riot guitarist Mike Flyntz is his best collaboration yet. Not only do his vocals sound completely natural at last, but so do the songs he’s singing.

Needing employment while Michael Sweet is out doing his multiple projects, Stryper rhythm section Perry Richardson (Bass) and Robert Sweet (Drums) round off this project.

11 tracks, all rockers, no ballads might sound fairly intense, but there’s a good variety in pace and delivery here, so the album doesn’t get bogged down or repetitive.

Its just a good American sounding hard rock/melodic metal record with a strong lead vocalist, a great guitarist and a rhythm section that drives home the beat.