'Crystallised' is this band's third album in 9 years. Vocalist Robert Soeterboeck is back after a one album absence and Fernando (Victory) Garcia is out.
The fast-becoming-a-legend, Dennis Ward plays bass and produces.
It's on Metal Heaven, a label with an eye for a good rock band.
All the signs are there.
So is it any good?
Well, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so if you like
Whitesnake,
Lionsheart and Dokken, you'll love it.
If you don't, you'll wonder what all the fuss is about.
But let's start with the positives. Opener, '
Better World' opens the album. It's a song just bursting with life and energy. An immense, elevated chorus and sparkling axework from mainman, Michael Klein promise so much.
It proves to be an almost impossible act to follow. The powerhouse rock song,
'Fistful Of Dreams' comes close, but doesn't have quite such a sharp hook.
Elsewhere, Ward does his best to brighten generic melodic rock songs and derivative performances, with some clear successes.
His magic dust works on
'Lost In A World' and
'Love To Play'. On the first a lengthy bridge makes a cleverly harmonised hook worth waiting for.
On the second, Soeterboek's dramatic vocals and Klein's stuttering riff recall the Coverdale / Sykes' interplay on
Whitesnake's '1987', but it being 23 years later, the chorus is a short blast of rap. Works for me.
I said that the opener was almost impossible to follow, and one track beats those odds.
'My Turn To Fly', with Helloween's Andy Deris guesting, cuts against the grain. It's much more metal than rock.
Surreal call & response vocal passages between Derris and Soeterboek form the backbone of a song whose processed vocals sound so out of place among all these imitations. Album standout by a considerable margin.
That said, you can't help admitting to a grudged admiration for just how close '
Am I Right' and
'Ordinary Man' get to
Lionsheart, circa 'Under Fire'.
Add to that the breezily insistent Eurorock of
'Lonely Is The Night' and '
The Love I Know's transformation from
Whitesnake ripoff to a noteworthy ballad, radiating low register warmth, depth and charm, and you have an album that gradually gets under your skin.
It's not groundbreaking, and style may win over substance occasionally, but 'Crystallised' s sussed melange of familiar melodic rock moments eventually wins the day.
Written by
Brian Tuesday, July 6, 2010
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