'Tony Mitchell' has been touring for quite a few years with key artists from the rock scene, such as 'Rick Wakeman', 'Alan Parsons Project', 'Alice Cooper' or even 'Jon Anderson' but he has also participated in several projects including 'Kiss Of The Gypsy' in the 90s. After a very good 'Beggard Old' in 2018, 2020 sees the release of a new opus 'Church of a Restless Soul', in which he offers us 13 melodic compositions at will for a little over an hour of music, with a nice range of guests from the melodic rock or hard-rock scene (see list below) but also a choir gospel which brings a beautiful originality to the album.
And it is precisely the eponymous title of the album which opens the debates with a blessed energy brought by the gospel choirs of 'The Rogues Gallery Rock Choir' and which replaces all the antidepressants in the world, because once a few listenings of this track, we pumped-up to calmly face any problem then, without transition, 'Living on the Run' continues in this royal melodic path in an atmosphere reminding me of 'Bruce Springsteen' in more energetic. With 'In & out of love', it's a mid-tempo with a marked rhythm and a heavy sound which is good and which brings us back to the 80s with groups like 'Saxon' or 'AC / DC', then , 'The Mighly Fall', sung by 'Danny Vaughn' of the group 'Tyketto' still has an air of 'Bruce Springsteen' in the melodic lines that encrust right into your head and driving it to 'Electric' which sends us some good hard rock with a rhythm section that automatically turns on the foot tapping machine. After these 5 tracks all as good as the others, 'I Believe in Angels' offers a well-deserved first break with a magnificent ballad that I added in my Spotify playlist of ‘Ballades rock/hard-rock/métal’, then it's off again with an explosive 'Killing Me to Love You' which is still an addictive melodic bomb, followed by a quieter 'Never Wanted Love' in a melancholy melodic AOR and the continuation does not weaken with 'One Good Reason' and its muscular guitar riffs, a new ballad, 'Sacrifice', whose melody does not leave you any more with the choirs which give you an irresistible desire to accompany them. We are already at 50 minutes without any downtime and it is again with three melodic jewels that the album ends with first an energetic 'Shattered Dreams' with a new addictive chorus, then a stirring 'Evil Woman' with its jerky rhythm and finally the mid-tempo 'Heaven Is Calling' of an impressive firepower setting the headbanging machine one last time working.
In summary, 'Tony Mitchell' releases one of the best melodic rock/hard-rock albums of the year 2020, without any downtime, with melodies that you can immediately appropriate and with a modern sound and powerful which should appeal to a whole audience loving energetic atmospheres and accessible melodies... | |
