OK, fine, so the point has been proven that melodies don't have to be filled with syrupy pop to tug at the heart of catchiness. I mean, you gotta' have thunder sometimes, or in most cases all the time. Hence we have a "project" called
Khymera from keyboardist Daniele Liverani (
Genius Rock Opera) and vocalists Dennis Ward (
Pink Cream 69) that encompasses the high energetic stance of a technical metal record (I don't want to go too far and use the "P" word here) and an
AOR record. You could say that we have middle ground found within both of their musical endeavors to form their own species of ear candy.
Musically, the album wields a strong sense of tuneful ability (from the songwriting perspective), going in different directions rather than "flying all over the place." True, the fact that
A New Promise is a song-oriented record makes it spark high with melody, filled with, what else, hooks, catchiness, anthem choruses, and harmonies. But when you get down to it, it takes more than those ingredients to really pose a personal stake for what else, a band's personal identity in the world of
AOR, or any form of music that poses saturation.
A fairly heavy (I guess "rockin'" is appropriate) record that ponders upon the pop sensibility, but yet emphasizes the axe attack (provided by Tommy Ermolli) to give the album it's grind. Instead of Liverani letting the ivories solo and play improvisational jam sessions, the cordial patters and arpeggios sound as if they might have been written for guitar, but, nevertheless they take the place of a rhythm guitar while at the same time leading the melody patterns into the record's compositional infiltration.
The rock side to this record finds its highlights with
"Looking For You" where the tail end of the pro-chorus really grabs the ears with it's sudden key change;
"Alone" with it's catchy keyboard/guitar riffs that straight out drive a harder and edgier Journey-esque reminiscence; and
"Fields of Fire" where the harmonies are at the center stage of this quick paced ditty. But of course, what would an
AOR record be without all the balladry and emotion. Yes, we do have our backseat fodder here, the piano laden
"All is Gone" which finds the record pondering upon the lighter side of sentiment, but yet the "power is present with cuts such as
"Tomorrow Never Comes" and
"If you Dare to Dream" where the elements of some of Steelheart's and Drive She Said's material is present.
The music on this record finds common ground between the pop prowess of
Harem Scarem and the metallic edge to TNT, but yet not going to far into the stance of the two bands; this, being similar to the same common ground that
A New Promise finds between both
Pink Cream 69 and
Genius Rock Opera. One thing is for sure,
Khymera does find common ground within the scope of the melodic metal-rock/
AOR genre, so one can only hope that this moves beyond the "project" scheme of things.
Written by
Hashman Friday, January 6, 2006
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