Melodic Hard Rock Releases – April 2022

At the beginning of April, several melodic rock/hard rock albums were released, all of which deserved a review, but for lack of time, I put them all together in a playlist. Each of them offer us unstoppable melodies, most of which could be the subject of a single and we find essential formations of this style.

First of all it is the British of 'Dare' who are in the spotlight and are releasing a new studio recording 'Road To Eden' after 'Sacred Ground' dating back to 2016. This band is led by singer and songwriter 'Darren Wharton' who was a member of 'Thin Lizzy' in the 80s.

The band of 'Harry Hess' and 'Daniel Flores' gave us a very good album 'Line of Fire' and 'First Signal' return in 2022 with a no less good album 'Closer to the Edge' with unstoppable new melodies.

Let's go to Sweden with 'Treat' which is one of the precursor formations of melodic hard rock in the 80s and which, after 5 years of absence, their last album 'Tunguska' dating from 2018, released their 10th album 'The Endgame' which continues the melodic adventure with a new baby in the great tradition Swedish melodic hard rock.

Their name is linked to the style of music they represent and the Frenchman 'Frédéric Slama' who immigrated to the United States continues to release albums and 'L.A. Suspicion' is his 17th baby in just over 20 years, the latest album 'The Ghost of L.A.' from 2019. Always accompanied by the multi-instrumentalist 'Tommy Denander' and with a host of guest singers, he offers us 10 new compositions that should go on repeat for all fans of westcoast and AOR .

It is still in the direction of the 'United States' that we are heading with the new 'Fortune' which, after their reformation in 2016, released in 2019 the album 'II', which was followed by the live 'The Gun's Still Smokin' Live' in 2020 and who are doing it again with a new 'Level Ground' studio recording. So, ready to embark on the time machine to the 80s?

And finally, the Spaniards of 'Xtasy' are releasing an EP with tracks from their latest album 'Eye of the Storm' but sung in Spanish just to put back between the ears these addictive melodies which had been very well received in 2020 .

In short, only good in this melodic rock/hard rock playlist which offers you more than 4 hours of hits to consume without moderation...

Line Up / Musicians

Dare :
Darren Wharton (Vocal, Keybords), Vinny Burns (Guitar), Nigel Clutterbuck (Bass), Kev Whitehead (Drums), Marc Roberts (Keybords)

First Signal :
Harry Hess (Vocal), Daniel Flores (Drums), Andi Kravljaca (Guitar), Jonny Trobro (Bass)

Treat :
Robert Ernlund (Vocal), Anders "Gary" Wikström (Guitar, Choirs), Jamie Borger (Drums, Percussions), Nalle Påhlsson (Bass, Choirs), Patrick Appelgren (Keybords, Choirs)

AOR :
Frédéric Slama (Guitar, Keybords), Tommy Denander (Tous les instruments), Steve Overland (Vocal, Choirs), Robbie LaBlanc (Vocal), Paul Sabu (Vocal), Bill Kelly (Vocal), Steph Honde (Vocal), Markus Nordenberg (Vocal), Michael Stosic (Vocal)

Fortune :
Larry Greene (Vocal, Guitar), Richard Fortune (Guitar, Vocal), Mick Fortune (Drums), Ricky Rat (Bass, Vocal), Bob Emmett (Keybords)

Xtasy :
Silvia Idoate (Vocal), Jorge Olloqui (Guitar, Keybords), Chema Herrero (Guitar), David Clavero (Bass), Gari Irazu (Drums)