Archived Reviews: # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Reviews Index
MTM 2000
8-12-00 A bit of a shocker, this one! The first Stun Leer album "Once" was Danger Danger/Def Leppard-like AOR, while this one is nothing like that. "Last Man Standing" is modern hard rock with a heavy and aggressive production, and after first spin I had to check if this was the same band at all! As it appears, this isn't, it is indeed "Doug Howard of Stun Leer" playing all instruments, with Fate Taylor providing some additional guitars.
After my initial reaction of "RUN! HE'S GONE MAD!" went by and I gave this album a few extra spins, it didn't sound as bad as I first thought. "Higher", "Whip" and "Tell Me" aren't THAT far from the heavier tracks of "Once", ten times heavier maybe but pretty good anyway. Kinda like Kane Roberts' Phoenix Down project in fact.
The easiest tracks to digest for the melodic rock fans would be the rather fantastic melodic rocker "The Death Of Me" (Kiss meets Bon Jovi!), the balladic "Hold Up The Sky" and "Living Proof". The latter even borrows a little bit of something from Cinderella's "Nobody's Fool" for its' chorus.
The remaining songs go over my head though. The Kiss-like rocker "Worldwide" isn't bad, just a bit boring, but "Hey Money", "Faith" and "Save Me" are a bit too modern for me. I just don't get it: is it necessary that a "modern-sounding" hard rock track must NOT have anything memorable in it? Do the choruses have to consist of one or two words repeated monotonously, and preferably with a distorted or effected voice? What's wrong with melodies? What's wrong with hooks? ... Thanks, needed to get that off my chest. Oh yeah, there's a cover of RamJam's "Black Betty" in there too... a lot of "Bam-A-Lam", not much else.
I don't know where the future of Stun Leer lies as this appears to be more of a solo album of Doug Howard. Let's hope he manages to mix his melodic style with the modern influences a bit better the next time, and does not turn into Marilyn Manson or Limp Kornkit...
Shrapnel / Roadrunner 1989
Review by 
Being a guitar freak I have to admit I love Greg's early works. However this one is a bit different because it's a vocal album featuring Greg's brother Steve Howe on vox. This album was the first time I heard him singing and I was absolutely pleased with his voice. He sings in that Coverdale-Tarzan vein and does a great job. The album cover is funny, especially taking a look at the photos of the musicians. Clothes and poses like early Poison with a little less make-up. However the music is definitely lot more on the hard rocking edge and Greg (unlike CC) plays the shit out of his guitar.
The title track opens the album with a great guitar riff and with an awesome scratchy guitar sound that is characteristic for the whole album. The songs are all very well written, the musicians are top notch and the mix is very balanced. "High Gear's" riffs and its up-tempo, shout-out refrain pumps your adrenaline level up, and the solo is a pure gem. "Carry the Torch" follows in the same vein. This track features outstanding drum performance by Joe Nevolo but as I've said all the musicians do a great job here and I'd even dare to say this album (though it is hard to compare to the instrumental solo efforts) has some of Greg's best moments. If you liked Vito Bratta's guitar playing approach on the classic White Lion albums, you'll love Greg on this one too. Same style: great, tricky riffing and lots of short solo runs between the vocal lines.
"Strat-O-Various" is the first slow-down. It's an instrumental piece, basically nothing but two awesome themes built on one scale with technically wonderful performance. This is the only slow part of this album; it does not feature any ballads and still it does not get boring at all. The lyrics are all full of originality and sometimes very funny. One of my personal faves of the album is track 5 "Thinking of You" which opens with Steve singing the first two line without any musical accompanying. Great voice! The song is a mid-tempo rocker with great riffs and a very tasty solo.
Track 8 "Don't Let The Sloe Gin (Order The Wine)" is probably one that would remind all of you who had known Greg Howe's instrumental solo albums before confronting with this one of his solo works the most. It 's a very up-tempo song, runs through you as it was some Porsche and you were standing in the middle of the highway. "Party Favors" features two guest guitarists Mike Varney and Jason Becker. Actually, Mike produced the album too and you might happen to know Jason's name too as solo artist or as Dave Lee Roth's guitarist. The song is a great party tune (what a surprise with this title) and the solos?! Well, these names are a satisfaction guarantee. Check them out yourselves! All in all it's a great album and even if you aren't a guitar freak it's still very enjoyable.
MTM 2003
Review by 
12 March 2003
Brian Howe did not have a easy time replacing Paul Rodgers (ex-Free) in Bad Company. Following in the footsteps of a rock legend isn't always easy, you know. However, he not only m13:52 27.4.2003anaged to deal with this difficult task, Bad Company actually released some great, melodic albums in the 80's with Howe as frontman.
Howe also recorded the album Penetrator (1984) with Ted Nugent before joining Bad Company in 1985. But it's been awful quite around him for the last years. This is yet another Japan only release (from 1997 I believe), now released in Europe by Germany's MTM Music.
This is softer music than his Bad Company days, with a softer "Touch"
you can say. It's more 'Westcoast' music than usual and fans of the
Richard Marx, Mark Spiro, John Waite (in the 80's) sound, better pay
some extra attention here. The songmaterial is very solid throughout
the album and the production by Terry Thomas (Bad Company, Richard Marx,
Tesla etc.), is a nice peiece of craftmanship. Thomas is also responsible
for co-writing all songs (except one), together with Howe. Opener "I
Remember" is the work of Mark Spiro (Bad English, Giant, Solo etc.)
and Howe though. Everyone who's familiar with Spiro, knows the man can
do no wrong. Howe has often been compered to Foreigner's vocalist Lou
Gramm in the past (not to mention that Bad Company sounded a lot like
Foreigner with Howe), and you can surely find similarities. Many of
the songs reminded me also of the softer side of Foreigner (and Bad
Company of course). Their fans can't go wrong here either. By the way,
Foreigner's guitarist and founder Mick Jones guest appears on one of
the tracks too. The only downer (?) would be that all the tracks are
either ballads or slow songs. I'm not sure if that's a downside here
though! Since it's pretty much quality music from start to finish. I
guess you need to be in that special mood to play this disc. Same goes
with Richard Marx etc. It's not exactly party music, but you know it's
quality music. Recommended for your soft and fluffy days.
www.mtm-music.com
MTM 2002
Review by
3 October 2002
Let me get the record straight at once here!! Live In Tokyo is basicially done for the Japanese market and with Japanese musicians only. Ehhh... I'm not counting the rock legends Joe Lynn Turner & Glenn Hughes here though [:-)]!!! Still, me thinks it's darn strange they would use some session musicians for this live recording and not their ordinary tour/studio band.
I'm sure that guitarist J.J. 'Rocking Reckless' Marsh (ex. Spellbound) and the rest of the band are pretty upset over this decision. Especially since the Swede himself co-wrote many of the songs on the HTP CD. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing remarkable wrong with the musicians involved in this recording. Akira Kajiyama is an excellent guitarist who's been working with Turner a lot in the past.
However, you sure would get a better groove with the ordinary rhythm section as they've been playing these songs for some time now. "Live In Japan" was recorded at Shibuya Club Quattro Tokyo, Japan on May 17 and 19 2002. Only some four months and it's already been out in Japan for a couple of months. Maybe they've rushed things a little too much here as "Live In Japan" does sound a bit sloppy from time to time. Then again, if you like you live recordings a bit on the raw-ish side with an almost bootleg-ish vibe, you surely can't go wrong here!!! I believe it's the old "damned if you do - damned if you don't", rule that applies here. If it sounds too much like a fake work it's no good, the same goes if it's straight from the PA, I guess. One thing's for sure though, both Hughes & Turner sing like they've always done in the past. Hughes can still reach those hi-pitched screams in "Mistreated" while Turner does his "I Surrender" or "Street Of Dreams" in the same cool way as always. Not to mention that the HTP material fits perfectly with the old classics from the 70's. This European release has also one studio bonus track - "Against The Wall" (Hughes, Turner, Marsh).
www.mtm-music.com
www.glennhughes.com
www.joelynnturner.com
MTM Music 2003
Review by
13 September 2003
Pretty much like artists such as AC/DC and Motörhead nowadays, you already know what to expect... before you've even played the darn CD once. Indeed, the second release by veteran rockers Glenn Hughes & Joe Lynn Turner is pretty much what I expected, only better actually [:-)].
The Hughes/Turner Project is still something out of the ordinary. Mainly due to the fact that never before have two such legendery singers joined forces. Well... at least not in the hardrock genre. The ex-Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Deep Purple, Trapeze, Fandango, Gary Moore, Yngwie Malmsteen (etc), vocalists have been extremely busy this year. After releasing a new solo album each earlier, they now return with part "2" of their mastedon project.
I also believe "2" to be stronger and catchier than Hughes' "Songs In The Key Of Rock" and Turner's "JLT". They seem to be pushing each other to perform at their max in the studio. I guess that nobody wants to give in or admit to be the weaker vocalist. Their partnership seems to have grown actually and the songwriting is of highest quality. Like many 70's rock inspired albums you need to spin this several times, to truly begin to appreciate the material. Especially if like me you were brought up with the 80's stuff. The spirit of long gone days is all over the place though. Let's just say if this would have been recorded back in the days, we'd all be proclaming this as near classic by now. Why not skip the solo albums for a while and concentrate all focus on HTP. This is after all what people will remember in the future anyway. There's a couple of fillers included though. However, if you're of the 70's rock generation, you'll probably disagree with me on this point?. Tracks like "Losing My Head", "Going My Way", "Hold On", "Time And Time Again", "Sofia", and "Lost Dreams", are all marvelous in my book. The latter is so freakin' good it's actually hard to believe it's true. One of few really classic songs with that "classic rock" feeling lately. Man! The vocal harmonies are out of this world and the guitarwork by J.J. Marsh (ex-Spellbound) is top class performance. "2" is very close to a "9" rating and highly recommended to all "classic rock" fans.
www.mtm-music.com
Gary HUGHES: "Gary Hughes" 6
Now And Then 1992
Review by
Straight from the archives of Now And Then Records, this the second solo album of Ten frontman Gary Hughes. This was originally released in 1992, and it seems that Mr. Hughes hadn't quite reached his peak back then. No amount of multilayered backing vocals can hide the fact that almost half of the songs are ultimately quite average. The brilliant (as usual) vocal performance does save a lot. Highlights: "It Must Be Love", "I Won't Break Your Heart" and "We Walk With Angels".
Frontiers/Now & Then 1998
Review by
The first Gary Hughes solo album for Now & Then was bit of a disappointment but there are no such worries with this album. This is in my opinion as classic an AOR album as was the first Ten album.
The opener "In Your Your Eyes" is a good midtempo AOR track, maybe not the track I would have chosen to be the first track though. "Don't Ever Say Goodbye" is a like a speeded up Bad English track, while "The Colours Of My Life" is a strong contender for "the ballad of the year" title. Sheer AOR heaven! The next couple of tracks "Give My Love A Try" and "Divided We Fall" are killer uptempo AOR tracks, and then it's time for another mega ballad in the form of "The Night The Love Died". Needless to say that this would be a huge hit if it was sung by sonebody with a major label marketing machine behind him/her.
"Wrecking Machine" sounds like a title for the obligatory throwaway "real rocker" track, and unfortunately that's what it is. "Perfect Ten" (yeah, right) is a Def Leppard/Winger hybrid with a little of Led Zeppelin thrown in, not one of my favourites either. "This Time" is a likeable pop rocker, if not really spectacular. "Heart Of A Woman", the first of the closing balladic duo, is a Whitesnake-like bluesy track, whereas the title song features only keyboards and vocals, not to mention a very beautiful melody.
So there you have it, a good album from one of the most hard working people in the genre. Why this was not called a Ten CD I do not know, since the songs aren't that different from Ten's material. But what the heck, I am just happy these songs were released!
Frontiers 2003
Review by
26 July 2003
"Once And Future King" is the Rock Opera based on the legend of King Arthur. The mastermind behind this epic is Gary Hughes, who has reached notable success with his band TEN during the last few years. An all-star cast has been put together for these two albums: Hughes himself sings the part of King Arthur, while Bob Catley (Magnum) is Merlin, Danny Vaughn (Tyketto, Waysted) is Lancelot and Diamond Head's Sean Harris is Galahad. The female leading role of Guinevere has been given to Lane Lane with Irene Jansen in the supporting role of Morgana. Damian Wilson sings the part of Prologue Narrator.
The story begins with the prologue "Excalibur", which is somewhat of a shocker. Hughes has done his best to write a Power Metal song! The song is a full-on double bass drum banger with a chorus that would be totally Manowar, if it was sung by a macho male choir. A bit of a surprise and not entirely successful, but still quite catchy in a corny way.
The next two tracks are more typical Hughes-material. "Dragon Island Cathedral" starts like an Iron Maiden-tune, but turns out to be a more Ten-like melodic hard rock track. "At The End Of The Day", a duet between Hughes and Lane is a ballad and quite a good one. Lane Lane's vocals add another dimension to it and clearly make it a stronger track.
Vaughn-sung "The Reason Why" isn't among my favourites, although it has to be said that it doesn't sound that "Hughes-like", and it adds variety to the album. Still, I found it to be a bit bland, despite Vaughn's fine performance. Irene Jansen sings the lead on "Shapeshifter", which is an interesting and a bit aggressive track, somehow reminding me a bit of Nightwish.
Merlin aka Bob Catley gets to sing two tracks, "King For A Day" and "In Flames". They are decent but nothing too special I'm afraid. Same goes for Sean Harris-sung "Sinner". The highlights of the second half of Part One are "Avalon" and "Lies", sung by Vaughn and Hughes respectively. "Avalon" is the pure AOR track of "Part One", very much in the vein of first Ten album. The chorus does sound disturbingly familiar though...Finally there's "Lies", an excellent, dark ballad.
Compared to the last few Ten-albums, "Part One" is clearly more diverse, when it comes to songs. The several vocalists help too. The production is very good as well. However, I don't think that these songs are among the best Hughes has even written, although some of them are very good.
www.frontiers.it
Frontiers 2003
Review by
3 August 2003
The second part of the Gary Hughes written rock opera (based on the myths and legends of King Arthur & Avalon), will be released shortly after the first one. This magnum opus project of Hughes, has been in the works for over two years, and the result are a couple of rather various sounding CD's. Like a night at the opera, you'll have to bring in all the aspects at once, and the show ain't over until the fat lady sings.
In this case, it's however not over until Harry Hess (Harem Scarem) sums it all up, with the appropriate title track. The classic and sometimes very dramatic sound of TEN, is indeed still present here. You will notice differences though, mainly due to the use of several lead characters and musicians (well, it wouldn't be a "opera" otherwise, would it?). The material is also slightly more progressive and sometimes even aggressive(?), than in the past. This is surely not a album for TEN fans only as I believe it to be wider and more across the border(s) than "that".
The story picks up where we left it last time, and opener "Kill The King" is here sung by DC Cooper (the role of King Aelle). Other new characters since the first part is: Sabine Edelsbacher (Edenbridge) as Nimue, Dougie White (Rainbow, Yngwie Malmsteen, Cornerstone) as Mordred, and Harry Hess (Harem Scarem) sings the part of epilogue narrator. You can of course freely chose if you wish to follow the storyline to its fullest or play the songs individualy. Each track tell its own story though and some of them are pure AOR, while others are more Progressive or Metal-ish.
"Kill The King" is almost something which could have been included on other
rock opera, namely the Avantasia project(s). "Oceans Of Tears", sung
by the lovely Lana Lane (Guinevere) is pure AOR and one of the better
songs in its genre lately. Not exactly what I'd call a "typical" Gary
Hughes written song. This is more in the US direction of AOR, with hook
similar to the debut of Robin Beck, or late 80's stuff from Heart. You
could also say that another female fronted band at Frontiers, only wish
they had a song like this, on their recently released album. "Rise From
The Shadows" is a great metal tune sung by Irene Jensen (Karma) in her
role as Morgana. I must say I'm very impressed by the performance of
Sean Harris (Diamond Head) as Galahad. His "Without You" song, actually
reminded me more of Styx on steroids than Ten. Very bombastic, great
arrangement with lots of keys and pomp-ish stuff. Don't believe for
a second either that Diamond Head was only about "Em I Evil", which
Metallica later covered. The two songs performed by Sabine Edelsbacher
is not bad at all, even though I'm not a fan of her classic "opera"
trained voice (to say the least). Nevertheless, "The Pagan Dream" is
one fine song though. King Arthur himself (Gary Hughes) handles both
"There By The Grace Of Gods" and "I Still Love You (I Still Do), in
this second part. The latter is more typical Hughes material and one
fine "power" ballad. The real downer are the two tracks performed by
Dougie White (Mordred)... especially "The Hard Way", which can only
be described as one boring song. I can't say that I enjoy the Disco
influenced (?) guitar part within this track either. Bottomline, OAFK
is more progressive rock and metal than any previous work of Hughes.
I enjoyed this perhaps more than any of the latest releases by TEN.
Don't be afraid to pick this up, if you're not usually into his "daytime"
work. Think big, progressive, clash of armour, and everything else that
goes with a epic medeival drama. Still very melodic though... of course.
www.frontiers.it
Frontiers 2003
Review by
15 May 2003
Songs in the key of... Zzzzzzzz! Ooops! Must stay awake to write review, must stay awake to write review! The voice, the myth, the legend, has once again returned from the battlefield. Mr.Glenn Hughes is truly one of the last, great rock warriors out there. He's been fighting the good fight, for more than 30 years by now. And no... you will not fall a sleep while listeniing to his new CD. Though you've surely already heard some of the melodies before.
It was actually the techno/dance band KLF who dubbed him "The Voice Of Rock", after his performance on their "What Time Is Love" hit. This is something we've known about Hughes, for a long time though. He truly is the man with the golden voice! Looking back at his tracklist you can find him singing with: Trapeze, Deep Purple, Hughes/Thrall, Gary Moore, Phenomena, Black Sabbath, Hughes/Turner Project, etc. etc. Unfortunately his songmaterial hasn't been as impressive lately.
"Songs In The Key Of Rock" is a step in the right direction again. This CD is said to be a retro, yet fresh approach, which captures the essence of classic rock'n'roll. Fair enough, since this is a 70's rock album, with a "classic" sound. Gone are the most funky stuff from previous solo albums. You can always hear that mean, fat, 70's hammond, in the distant background too, nicely played by Ed Roth I may add. The guitar playing of JJ "Rocking Reckless" Marsh (Spellbound, HTP) and Jeff Kollman is also very classy and solid althrough. There's however a couple of really dull moments here, and songs like "Lost In The Zone", "The Truth", and "Gasoline", do absolutely nothing to this rocker. Especially the latter with its corny 'banshee' scream at the end, is rather boring. Opener "In My Blood" and "Get You Stoned", is rock straight from the 70's. The 'slow-song' of "Higher Places" is bloody marvelous and dedicated to the great 'Gonzo'. Which of course was the nickname for Led Zeppelin's drummer John Bonham (R.I.P.). The verse is very Led Zep inspired and the chorus is simply fantastic. Make also sure to check out the flashy guitar solo. The absolute highlight is the more than eight minutes long "Written All Over Your Face". Hughes truly sings like 'The Voice Of Rock' here and its already a classic tune somehow. Think big, think "Soldier Of Furtune" (Deep Purple) only twice as big or something, even though that's a Coverdale tune. "Standing On The Rock" isn't all that bad either! In fact, it's pretty much like a kick to the head with its furious approach. Fans of the man pretty much know what to expect by now. Solid, classic, sounding rock without too many ups or downs!
www.frontiers.it
Indie 2001
Michael Hughes has already released several independent albums; "Finally Out" is his third indie album in a row and honestly I doubt it is going to take him any further than the first two did. Namely because there are fundamental problems with this release. Although the musical direction and some of the synth and guitar themes are quite good, the final product is lacking in various fields.
Michael has done basically everything on the album, wrote the songs, played all the instruments, recorded and produced the album. And it seems to be too much. The vocals and the productions suffered the most. He has a high-pitched voice and tends to get off-key and unconfident in almost all the songs. The weak drum-machine sound does not help either, not to mention that the snare is in the front of the mix in all the songs while the kick and cymbals are simply non-existent. On the other hand the guitar sound and the guitar work is very good. The solo of the title track for example is a pure gem. "We Can Do It" is a good song in the vein of Survivor's rock songs, well-written but the weak lead vocals take away its strength again. Basically all the songs showcase some good songwriting ideas, riffs, licks but they fail to impress in the end.
Had it been a demo only, my criticism wouldn't have been this strong but this is an actual album that you can order and buy from the site. I think Michael should stick to songwriting and playing guitars/synth and leave the vocals and the recording to someone else; then we have the chance of a great record from this obviously very talented musician. www.geocities.com/apesound
Pony Canyon (Japan), MTM Music (Europe) 2002
Starting out as the bassist and lead vocalist for English hard rockers Trapeze in 1969, Glenn Hughes achieved his greatest fame as the bass player of Deep Purple from 1974 until the group split in 1976. His next effort, recorded with guitarist Pat Thrall under the name Hughes/Thrall, appeared in 1983, Hughes then joined Black Sabbath as lead singer. Solo releases followed through the '80s to 2000 which marks him as one of the best voice of rock.
Joe Lynn Turner began his musical career as the frontman of Fandango in the late '70s then joined Rainbow in 1981. After the Rainbow's breakup in 1984, he joined Yngwie Malmsteen as a lead singer for Rising Force (1984), Odyssey (1988) and the following year's Live In Leningrad : Trial By Fire. In 1990 Turner reunited with Blackmore in a reformed Deep Purple for Slaves And Masters. Through the years, Joe Lynn Turner released couple of remarkable solo albums; Rescue You (1985), Nothing Changed (1995), Undercover (1997), Holy Man (2000).
What can we accept from these two great musicians? Just imagine a mix of Joe Lynn Turner's solo albums, plus Deep Purple & Rainbow. Add some amazing vocal performances of Hughes and you'll get an album of the year candidate. Glenn and Joe each have songs that they pretty much sing solo and the rest they trade off vocals on alterating verses. This format really works well...
Highlights include the opener, "Devil's Road" with Glenn and Joe sharing thundering vocal deliveries. "You Can't Stop Rock & Roll" features Paul Gilbert on guitars which also features some great harmonies by both vocalists. "Mystery Of The Heart" is Joe Lynn Turner's impressive solo number for the fans of 'Street Of Dreams'. "Heaven's Missing An Angel" features John Sykes on guitar and leaves you wondering what a whole cd of these two could bring. This song is an absolute classic on the album which delivers soulful whispers of Glenn Hughes. "Sister Midnight" is another shining moment of Glenn Hughes with funky guitar and keyboard parts. "Against The Wall" is the bonus track on the Japanese release which is a Thin Lizzy style song featuring great vocal performances of Glenn & Joe.
Combining the best of the Purple and Rainbow sounds of the 70's and 80's with a heavy dose of the modern day talent, Hughes & Turner did a great job. Hughes & Turner Project provides the listener the full spectrum of both Glenn and Joe's talent and allows them to highlight their successful careers. One of the best releases of this year...
PS: Japan only bonus track 'Against The Wall" is featured on our AOR-E Radio. Tune In!!!
www.mtm-music.de
Album of The Month
HUGO: "Time On Earth" 8
Frontiers/Now & Then 2000
Hugo's first album (released a few years ago) is considered by many as one of the cornerstones of Nineties' AOR. Hugo had a tough task to follow it with "Time On Earth", but he seems to have managed it quite nicely.
"Can't Stop Loving You" proves instantly that the man is in fine form. The song is a great classic AOR track in the vein of Journey's "Be Good To Yourself", and Hugo himself sounds excellent. A great opener! "Tell It To My Heart" is another piece of classic AOR, reminding me of early Michael Bolton. "Last One More Time" is an instantly likeable ballad, very Journey-esque, not a carbon copy of any of their ballads though. This very emotional song is slowly becoming my favourite Hugo ballad!
"Anyone In Love" sounds like a sure-fire hit to me, if anything. It's a midtempo AOR track that someone like Savage Garden could easily cover and take it to the top of the charts anyday. Great melody, great chorus.
"Fine" isn't quite as spectacular as the four previous songs, but not a filler by any means. It's straightforward melodic rocker that should work very well live. "Blues For You" is -you guessed it- a bluesy ballad, which sounds like it could have come straight out from one of the early eighties' Journey albums. A good track anyway but even better is the next track "This Love Song". It starts like a ballad, yet slowly transforms into an unbelievebly brilliant midtempo track that is probably the most consummate five minutes of music I've heard in ages! Yep, I am thinking "Song Of The Year", and it's only February!
The Tyketto-like, acoustic guitar -driven "I Will Be There" is still a good track but unfortunately the remaining tracks aren't really interesting. The ballad "Our Love Will Be There" and the title track don't really grab me, and the cover of Triumph's "Magic Power" is okay otherwise, but Hugo's vocals on the intro go way too high for these ears, I'm afraid! Regardless of these minor disappointments, "Time On Earth" is a worthy addition to any melodic rock record collection.
Massacre Records 2001
Massacre Records used to be a
place for "brutal metal" only in the past but we can nowadays find all
kinds of hardrock from this German label. One of them are the Swedish
band HUMAN RACE who released one album at Z-Records a couple of years
ago, before Massacre signed them.
I had a strange feeling of deja vu when I played this disc the first time, it actually took me a while before I realized that 5 out of the 12 songs were already on the "For The Sake Of Your Soul" album (Z Records). Don´t know why they decided to include them as many will be a little bit disappointed to find out that there are only 7 new songs here.
One of them are a cover of Rainbow´s old "Tarot woman" I must say that it´s a great version with roaring keyboards (hammond) and flashy guitarwork even if I would have preferred a couple of more tracks with their own material. Vocalist Stefan Marchesini is a solid rock singer and the whole album is filled with wicked guitar riffs, but some of the newer songs may be too modern ? sounding for the fans of old school. Still, I find many songs to be very groovy like the opener "Paralyzed" which sounds like a mix of Rainbow in the 70´s and more uptodate metal. "Ending Calling" has a cool chorus and best of the new songs is the really melodic and catchy "This is who we are". The rating won't get any higher than this though as I´m sure the fans want more new material than this, with all the money you´ll have to pay for a CD today. www.massacre-records.com & www.humanrace.nu
Indie 2001
Review by
26 May 2002
Human Temple's vocalist Janne Hurme should be a familiar name to most of our Finnish readers, although I doubt that many of them confess to owning any of the albums released under his own name. They are all sung in finnish, and contain music that is aimed toward entirely different audience - traditional dance music with only traces of pop and rock. Germans call that kind of music "schlager"...
However, Hurme is a rocker at heart, and he's been singing hard rock in various bands and projects "on the side". Human Temple is one of those bands, and if these three tracks are anything to go by, they might just be the next Finnish band to be snapped up by one of the melodic rock labels out there!
"Walk Between The Shadows" is the first track, and it's a glorious slice of melodic hard rock in the vein of Treat, Dokken or Europe - strong hooks and lots of keyboards! Don't take my word for it though, you can download this song from Vigilante's MP3 vault.
"My Global Mind" represents the heavier side of the 'Temple. It is somewhat more complex structurewise, yet still quite melodic. Good chorus too. Last but not least, "Desert Rain" is a keyboard-driven ballad, with echoes of House Of Lords and other similary big-sounding, "majestic" bands.
MTM 2004
Review by Satu Reunanen, 
4 June 2004
How many times have you wondered how unfair the world is? Sure there are unbelievable success stories too. The first time I heard Human Temple on a demo I already knew this band should have their share of success. Their singer Janne Hurme, well known in Finland from his earlier singing career as a pop singer to the older crowd, was never a stranger to hard rock and metal and he always carried the right attitude that also worked on stage. Hurme and Petri Lehto, drums, are the original members of the band formed in 1998. The rest of the members in the band today are Harri Kinnunen, bass, Tony Green, keys, b. vocals and Jari Salo, guitars, b. vocals. The band has been working hard since day one and hard is the road in Finland to reach anything huge with their melodic hard rock music. But I always believed in them, and now they’re signed to MTM, one of the best labels in this genre. Way to go guys and congratulations! It’s always a pleasure to see finnish bands going somewhere. This kind of music has never been big in Finland, which is strange considering how little it differs from pop and entertaining music and how popular the other one is.
However, even though Human Temple write great songs with huge hooks and there aren’t bad songs on ”Insomnia”, actually most of them stick to you like glue and get you going, some of the songs cry out for more notes, more layers to the backing vocals and echo. A certain simplicity and hollowness bothers at times which is a shame really and that’s why I couldn’t give this a niner eventhough I would’ve so much wanted to. At least more echo would’ve brought a spaceous, arena band-like athmosphere to them, which suits these kinds of bands well. The production doesn’t bring out the best from their music even though it’s quite vigorous, but the emotional charge roams over well enough, that’s what really matters here. ”I’m Sorry” kicks the album off real good. After all ”Insomnia” still is catchy and sentimental from beginning to end, not forgetting the ballads either, ”Desert Rain” and ”Forever” with piano accompanying the feelings. ”Walk Between The Shadows” and the epic like ”Judas My Brother” are the striking faster songs, even being intriguing and really heavy too. The only song having a leftover shadow on it is ”Animal” with its slow tempo that seems to drag a little, but it also has its moments.
Human Temple is great party music in the eighties vein and the album even features great guest musicians from Altaria: Taage (also in Kilpi) and Jani Liimatainen (also Sonata Arctica) with Emppu Vuorinen (Nightwish, ex-Altaria) and Erkka Korhonen (Urban Tale). Human Temple has everything to make it, but their music isn’t the most popular anywhere which is unfair. But as I said earlier, there are unbelievable success stories too and Human Temple has gone one step further already getting signed to MTM. We’ll stay tuned and see how the world takes on ”Insomnia”. They definately are one band you shouldn’t miss out on if you love great melodies. I’m still wondering though what made Hurme cut his long hair short, why oh why...girls love longhaired dudes, didn’t you know that !
Human Temple
Z Records 2002
Review by 
28 February 2002
They are back! Right, one of the best melodic rock outfits of the 90's (IMO) strikes back with a new name, new sounds and new line up. A new drummer, Tomas Broman and Pontus Norgren on guitars who was already on Talisman lattest album, "Truth", but not on their classical line up that included, besides the axis Jeff Scott Soto/Marcel Jacob, Fredrik Akesson on guitars (one of the most underrated guitarrist on the melodic rock scene) and Jamie Borger on drums (seen lately on Alfonzetti solo debut). I don't know why they changed their name, but the choice of Humanimal seems more than fair as, at first listening the music style is Talisman from the Humanimal album era. But please, mind I wrote "at first listening", 'cause there's much more than meets the eye (ear)here...
Yes, when I gave this CD a first spin, I thought, cool, another classy Talisman album, full of funky grooves melted in a very melodic way as only both Mr. Soto and Mr. Jacob can come up with. Nothing new but who cares when it's so friggin' well done? But as I gave the album more and more spins I started noticing lots of new shades on the melodic spectrum the CD covers. There are a whole lot of new elements here, new influences, and a brand new approach to the Scandoo melodic rock Talisman has been known and I dare to say not fully given the recognition they deserve for that. Of course, there are classic sounding Talisman era hits here like the opener "R U 4 Real", "License 2 Kill", "Turn Away" or the smashing hit "Again 2 B Found". But, (and this is only a personal guess as the credits don't include songwritting info), I think Mr. Norgren have brought a new dimension to the songs and maybe also an influence on the sound and songwritting which can be clearly seen on "Find My Way Home", a dark funky song so to say with some Red Hot Chilly Peppers elements brought into by Mr Jacob and possibly one of the most melodic chorus I've heard on any Talisman album (which is a lot to say as these guys sure know how to turn it melodic anytime!). "Feel The Burn" mixes the everlasting grooves from Marcel Jacob with some Rainbow style hardrock producing as a result a hell of a rocker with JSS voice shinning on a new dimension. But for me the truly highlight of the album is "Road 2 4giveness", with its hypnotic intro guitar riff, Soto's voice shinning as its best throughout the verses (what a nice delay effect they added to the mix!), tremendous backing vocals, and a superb bass solo from Lord Jacob followed by a great bridge by Jeff Scott Soto and a really nice guitar solo. Hardly ever I have come across something so good as this! "I" is a more classic Talisman track, but the intro is again really different from previous hits from the band, can anybody tell me why the hell are the lyrics of this precise song missing from the linner notes?
I must say that Pontus Norgren does an excellent job on this album. I had only listened to him on Great King Rat's "Out Of The Can" CD, (and I dig it a lot), but here he brings new elements to his playing, with a definitely Sewdish school sound, but full of hypnotic, psychotic, or whatever you want to call 'em, riffs, not to mention his great solos all over the album. Borman does a good job also, and the leading duo is, as always, incredible. Great to see these two don't get short of creative fuel as times goes by. Soundwise, the production is quite good, but the picky in me says it could have been even better, and the fact that the album only lasts 42:30 prevents it to get full marks, but as we say in Spain, brief and good is better than long and worse [Note to the rest of the staff, especially Bandi the bitch, no dirty jokes about that!!!], and I can assure you this album is really intense and won't leave you indifferent. If you're an old Talisman fan you'll love this record as much as I do, (I know it's too early to talk about album of the years contender and such and I'm not into that kind of stuff ussually, but I' quite sure this album will be on my top 10) and you'll probably find yourself discovering (and digging) the new elements this album offers. If you're not very familiar with previous works from these American/Swedish band, (and it's a shame to find how many people into melodic rock don't know about this band), this is a good chance to get into the fascinating sounds of Humanimal - hey, just don't want the band and their label shouting at me "we're not Talisman any longer, its HUMANIMAL now!". :)
Frontiers 2001
01-09-06
My first question would be: Where the heck are Robert Sarzo, Tony Cavazo or at least Doug Aldrich? Well... they are nowhere to be found on this comeback album from LA rockers Hurricane, and it´s a darn shame as this could have been a really cool reunion otherwise. Kelly Hansen [vocals] and Jay Schellen [drums] are the only original members involved here and though they are both a big part of the band, it sure would have been nice to have witness the real deal.
Formed in 1985, Hurricane enjoyed much success in the late 80´s and early 90´s with 3 acclaimed albums, [Take what you want, Over the edge, Slave to the thrill] the US top 40 single "I´m on to you", consistent touring and MTV videos. Unfortunately their record label "Enigma" declared bankruptcy in 1991, which indeed was the main reason why they broke-up in the first place. Though the changing music scene with grunge and other boring elements sure had "some" effect on the band.
"Liquifury" is a CD with two faces really! The first five songs are great fun to listen to, while the next five are average or worse. Opener "River of gold" takes you back to the heydays with its melodic, yet heavy sound. "New God" continues in the same style while "Heart made of stone" is the real winner here. This song reminded me a lot of Foreigner, and the chorus is really catchy. Credit must go to new guitarist Sean Manning, as he does some fantastic guitar work here. Another favorite is "Happy to be your fool" with its 70´s classic hardrock sound... that goes for many of the songs here. It´s the last track to enjoy though, as the album simply dies after this! OK... "In my dreams" is a nice/average ballad, but songs like "Bleed for me, Shelter, Torn" or the horrible "Shine" are all below average. Nah, bring back Sarzo & Cavazo and try again!!! Or maybe they´re lost in the wilderness, due to the curse of being the lesser popular brother... kinda like Frank Stallone and Joey Travolta?! www.frontiers.it
Indie 2000
TOBIAS HURWITZ is a superb guitarist from the Baltimore/Washington area who's been around for a while. His work is in fact divided in Music Journalism (for Music Monthly newspaper) Music education (he directs The National Music Workshop Dayjams campus in Towson/Maryland) and of course as a guitarist (He has been published in: Guitar Player Magazine, Guitar magazine and tons of other stuff).
This is an album with both Hardrock/Jazz & Blues kinds songs. "Painted Sky" is an instrumental CD full of great licks, tricks, moves & grooves by Mr Hurwitz. Sure, some may say that if you've heard one guitarist - you´ve heard 'em all! But I think that Hurwitz has a style of his own, even if we can hear influences from BiG guitar heroes like Satriani, Vai & Van Halen on this CD.
You can also find a pretty cool version of DEEP PURPLE´s "Space Truckin´". The best song on this album is the really cool song "I'm Your Machine" this is a song that really must be heard! It kicks butt. I know that I've heard this song before with somebody else (but Hurwitz wrote it). "Invention #8" is of course J.S.Bach and "Maggot Brain" is the song that George "Funky" Clinton did in the past." Plugged" is a great Satriani kinda song with some great drumming by "Dennis Chambers" (P-Funk). Recommended CD if you like a instrumental guitarmaggedon! Check him out at: www.tobiashurwitz.com
HUSH: "If You Smile" 8
AOR Heaven 1998
Review by
Here's "one that got away", an album I didn't have a chance to hear when it was released a couple of years ago. I recently got it in a trade, and since it's been getting some serious spinning in my player, I thought I'll let you all know about this band.
The first track "Talk To Me" should be enough to convince anyone that we're talking about pure melodic rock here, as it is a good AOR number in the vein of Van Halen's "Can't Stop Loving You". It is followed by "Babe" and "Believe", both quite excellent AOR tracks reminding me of Skagarack mixed with Journey. "Piece Of The Action" is a hard rocker somewhere between Van Halen and Whitesnake, with vocalist Patric Simonsen sounding a lot like David Coverdale. There are a couple of other party rockers on this album too, but I prefer the more AOR-ish tracks of theirs, like "This Side Of Love", "Heaven Ain't That Far Away" (Whitesnake meets Journey!) and "Sometimes". Good stuff!
Frontiers/Now & Then 2001
Review by
4 July 2001
Having enjoyed the first Hush album "If You Smile" and the preview track on Union 4 sampler ("Don't Say Goodnight"), I was expecting this album to be an ultimate killer. It didn't turn out to be that, and I will tell you why I feel like that.
"The Restless Ones" is the opener and while the title might remind you of Bad English or Tall Stories, the song itself is a very much in the vein of Bon Jovi's "Blood On Blood" - a bit too much, if you ask me...they even sing about "white trash girls"...The Jovi theme continues with the next two tracks as well, "Don't Turn Around" being a bit in the vein of "Without Love" from "Slippery", not too bad though, while "Till We Become The Sun" is a powerballad á la "Bed Of Roses" but not quite as convincing. And "Whiskey bottle comforts me"...where have I heard that line before?
"Don't Say Goodnight" is the first really impressive track, a brilliant uptempo rocker that might be compared to the latter-day Danger Danger. "Is It Good Enough?" is indeed good enough, but the boogie rockin' of "Another Girl" really isn't..."Forever" is a so-and-so bluesy ballad, while "Like Love" is a laidback, semi-acoustic pop rocker that reminds me of acoustic Pretty Maids or the last Skagarack album. Not bad, unlike the uninspired hair-metal of "The Real Thing" or the closing number "In My Dreams" with its effects and a chorus that owes a lot to Bon Jovi's "I Believe".
A disappointing effort. "If You Smile" wasn't the most original album of all time either, but at least on that one Hush had several excellent songs. Maybe next time the guys should try to avoid listening to their old Bon Jovi albums while writing the songs!
Indie 2001
Hutch is the sparkling new project from Joe Hutchchinson (ex.The Hutchinsons) and this is something for all you pop-heads out there to check out, as this could very well end up as the next big thing. In fact I know that Joe and the rest of the band - Darrin Tehrani - Guitars (ex.Opto) Glenn Hays - Bass (ex.The Hutchinsons) & Eric Skodis - Drums (ex.Imperial Drag) are talking with a bunch of labels back in the USA and I would say it´s just a matter of time before you can find their debut album at your local shop.
This is modern pop/rock a-la Marvelous 3, Imperial Drag mixed with old time pop like Beatles, Elvis Costello and dare I say Donovan? I know that some of my co-workers here at AOR-Europe will hate me for bringing in the modern pop as this is after all a rock´n´roll site. To tell you the truth I can´t say this is my favorite kinda music either ... but again good music is always good music no matter what style or label you put on it.
"Stay with me" is the real gem here with its unbelievable catchy and smooth chorus! Give this the right kind of promotion and it´s a world wide hit (not kidding). "So spaced out", "New hampshire girl" & "All the money in the world" are all nice modern pop songs that I´m sure fans of the above mentioned bands will enjoy. Make sure to check out Hutch at www.mp3.com/hutch or get in contact with the band at: hutchworks@yahoo.com if you´re not into modern pop... well then don´t bother.
LionMusic 2003
Review by 26 April 2003
"Non Conformative" and at the same time very "Non Commercial"!!! Those would be the first two words popping up, during my whole listening experience of the band. Don't believe for a second that "Hybrid Freak Division", would ever out-smart Britney Spears at the charts. This may never have been the sole purpose of the project either.
"HFD" is an all instrumental fusion band with lots of improvisation
at large. It's nothing less than a mayhem of chaos and disorder. This
power trio consisting of Fredrik Andersson (guitars), Pär Lauren (bass)
& Björn Nyberg (drums) could make a full-grown man cry out of boredom
in 20 seconds flat. Their music is said to feature some kind of melodic
and rythmic structure. But I be damned if I'd find any!!! Let's be honest
here... this is improvisation JAZZ, with no resamblance to rock whatsoever,
I'm afraid. Let there be known that we enjoy our: AOR, Art-Rock, Blues,
Classic, Death, Doom, Fantasy, Funk-Metal, Glam, Grunge, Heavy Metal,
Melodic Hardrock & Metal, Nu-Breed, NWOBHM, Pomp, Pop, Power Metal,
Progressive Metal & Rock, Pure Metal, Rap-Metal, Scando, Sleaze, Speed,
Symphonic, Thrash, Westcoast, and White Metal music here at RockUnited.
Improvisation Jazz (fusion) is probably the only form of music that
none of us are into.
www.lionmusic.com
Crucial Music 2001
02-01-22
Here comes the breakdown by Johnny Hyde is one of those CDs you simply just can´t ignore. The performance by the band together with the pure energy of the songs are simply outstanding. The music shows influences from diverse artists such as Lenny Kravitz, Led Zeppelin, Radiohead, Red Hot Chilipepper, and it´s basically a wild mixture of 70's, 80's, 90's and today's rock.
With an album filled with riffs and melodies from the 70´s (there's a lot of Jimmy Page stuff here) mixed with the almost techno sounding drums this CD is something for all you 'open minded' people out there to discover. The cover of "Tainted Love" by 80's synth pop band 'Soft Cell' is yet another surprise. An even bigger surprise is that Hyde actually gets away with it. Great song, great version!
Hyde signed a management deal with Steven Hutton's Uppercut, the man responsible for finding Kid Rock, and landed at the same time a major publishing deal with Warner Chappell. So don't go thinking this is just another road kill. Highlights are opener "Breakdown" a lovely tune, that sounds like a wild mixture of Lenny Kravitz, Red Hot Chili Peppers and King's X. "No Regrets" that continues in the same style as above. Only with some Jimmy Page riffs added into the mix. "Strange Days" is a good, sentimental ballad. "Pop Is Dead" is good, modern pop a-la Radiohead. I could do without a song like "Crash" though. With its awful chorus this is something to stay away from. Even if the following bridge is superbly done. Only nine tracks make this CD a bit too short for today's standard. Still, make sure to check him out since this is a small genius at work. www.johnnyhyde.com