I'm trying to chew myself through the last albums I received with the 2007 stamp on them, so look out for a Highlights of 2007 in the not so distant future, again a difficult article to get to terms with. Well there I go finding excuses for my list being late once again.
Anyway, looking forward to the new Ayreon, Brainstorm and Avantasia. Hopefully they will be worth the wait.
Ambition. Ambition
A delightful breeze of refreshing AOR/Westcoast. The amazingly uplifting Make It Alright is a one hell of a stunning track.
Bob Catley. When Empires Burn
I keep coming back to this forceful blend of kick ass Hard Rock and silky balladry.
Chris Caffery. Pins And Needles
A disappointment. Messy sound, too much aggression without goal and lack of memorable moments coupled with rather unstructured song writing. Some songs delivery a strong message but this is no way near the successful debut Faces.
I keep wondering, how difficult is it to get the Savatage thing up and running? Loyal fans all over the world would praise the return of one of the most cherished bands ever. Something serious must really be in the way, can't all be due to the success of TSO, keeping the members from getting together.
Coheed And Cambria. No World For Tomorrow (CD+DVD)
Weird, but highly fascinating progressive music.
The immensely catchy refrain in Feathers is astounding.
Dogpound. III
My high expectations are fully meet, Dogpound have delivered 14 heavy Hard Rock songs like only they can bend them. The guitar riffs rips and tears and the rhythm section adds additional fuel to the fire.
I simply love the ironic, humours and at times disheartened lyrics.
Enuff Z'Nuff. Strength
The playful catchiness of Heaven Or Hell and Mother's Eyes with a brilliant tender atmosphere are among the favourites in an overall strong album.
Exodus. The Atrocity Exhibition - Exhibit A
A massive and tightly build Trash machine. The groove of Funeral Hymn is just plain mean. Production is top notch and the band lays down a solid bunch of semi-complex tracks.
Los Angeles. Los Angeles
Los Angeles grows on you, it grows big time. The production and performance is stellar: Tight drumming, deep bass fills, screaming soloing and lush but not too lush keys. I Must Be Blind and Caroline (what a chorus) leave you grasping for air in an impossible attempt to keep up with Luppi's mind-blowing voice.
Philip Bardowell. In The Cut
Nothing over the top but an overall good round of AOR music, some nice mellow tunes to enjoy.
Planet Alliance. Planet Alliance
A project with a lot of well know names with Magnus Karlsson and Mike Andersson (Cloudscape) in front seat. Unfortunately it never becomes more than quite pleasant; it lacks coherency and more songs rising above the medium bar.
Nightvision. Nightvision
The mixture of Power Metal, Heavy Rock and progressive elements are quite interesting, some songs have a tendency to fade into the grey zone but clearly a decent effort.
Richie Kotzen. Return of the Mother Head's Family Reunion
Kotzen follows up the genius Into The Black with a different, more diverse, blues spiced, roomier, but very agile and jamming slice of moist modern/retro-classic Hard Rock. Sounds confusing, but it adds up to something really cool.
The atmospheric Chase It and the passionate You're Crazy are both excellent cuts, as goes for the guitar handling.
Shy. Sunset And Wine
A unique mixture of cosy, elevating Melodic Rock with a warm touch of AOR tenderness. Guitars are very much up front and Tony Mills's high pitched vocals fills the songs with an otherworldly feeling. Great music.
Stan Bush. Dial 818888-8638
A neat treat of sugary Melodic Rock/AOR. You simply can't deny this mans ability for writing great catchy songs. In The Name Of Love adds an experimenting structure and fantastic choir/chorus sections.
Ted Poley. Smile
Fantastic album. Seductive and melodic, with a tongue in check vibe and some highly charismatic vocals.
Smile and More Than Goodbye are two of my favourite tracks from last year.
The Codex. The Codex
This isn't up to the standard of Allen/Lande, Starbreaker or the equally amazing Tony O'Hora disc but still a decent album. More metallic with Boals delivering a fine performance. But there is something missing, a fifth element so to speak. The songs tend to be stretched out, some hard to separate from others, and with a general lack of that steaming melodic drive Karlsson has become famous for, it's vocally and structure-wise too much a safe play.
Apart from that it's still powerful and with a dose of cool choruses coupled with firm guitar playing.
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