Not easy to navigate between 'Michael Bormann's Jaded Hard' and 'Jaded Heart' who just released a new album a few weeks ago (see here). In fact, it's actually quite simple, since the sir 'Michael Bormann' left the ship 'Jaded Heart' twenty years ago and has participated in various projects in the past or has released solo albums (see this last album here). Following a series of concerts in 2017 during which he covered a kind of best off of 'Jaded Heart' between 1990 and 2004 and, to the delight of fans at the time, he decided to rewrite songs in this catchy melodic hard rock style and the first album under the name 'Michael Bormann's Jaded Hard' (little nod to his former band) was released in 2019 (see here) filled with good melodic hits between hard rock and AOR. The adventure therefore continues with this new 'Power to Win' baby and, if you liked the previous one or if you simply like a mix between energetic atmospheres and other more measured ones, you should also adhere to this one which, even if it doesn't bring any novelties, shows that the German still has this talent for laying melodic hymns like in the 90s. 12 direct titles not exceeding 4 minutes (except the last 'We Must Make A Stand (Duisburg United)' which borders on 7 minutes and which sees the participation of musicians from his hometown), here is the menu of 'Power to Win' which varies the styles by taking us on a journey with parallels that we inevitably draw with the 90s and the formations of that time such as 'Bon Jovi', 'Def Leppard', 'Bonfire', 'Fair Warning' or even 'Firehouse'. From the first two titles 'Nothing but a Photograph' and the title song, we are embarked on two melodic catchy gems that takes us back a few decades with choruses à la 'Def Leppard', 'Michael Bormann' still being as effective in his song. The sequel modulates the subject to offer us a more measured but just as addictive AOR with the 'Our Sweet Lullaby' and its addictive chorus and the rhythmic 'Heaven', which would certainly have made a hit at the time of 'Foreigner'. No need to go from title to title because the whole thing is like this beginning of the album with hymns which come to be grafted into the head immediately with this alternation between melodic hard and AOR, the whole being interspersed by the syrupy ballad 'Just Wanna Fall In Love' which would have been a great success in the 80s. In short, no need to add more, just like the previous album 'Feels Like Yesterday', 'Michael Bormann' confirms with 'Power to Win' that he still has this talent to offer us beautiful melodies that we want to sing along to, and which should go on repeat for all fans of melodic hard rock and AOR... | |
