Artist : Dukes of the Orient

Album : Dukes of the Orient

Release Date : 23-02-2018

Added : 23-03-2018

Listening to the first 2 titles 'Brother in Arms' and 'Strange Days' from 'Dukes of the Orient’, I thought I'd be back almost 20 years with a certain album 'Aura' from ‘Asia' and it’s not surprising since it is simply 'John Payne', singer and multi-instrumentist of the band 'Asia' from 1991 to 2006 who releases with his friend 'Erik Norlander' ('Rocket Scientists') the long awaited album by fans and is none other than the continuation of the band 'Asia Featuring' renamed 'Dukes of the Orient' to pay tribute to the original singer 'John Wetton' who died of cancer in 2017. We are therefore sailing in a melodic progressive rock which reminds of course 'Asia' but also the major formations of this style of the 80s/90s as 'Toto', 'Alan Parsons Project' or 'Yes'. And if it were necessary to retain only one title, it would certainly be the long final composition 'Give Another Reason', typical of the progressive between acoustic and electric where we let ourselves be carried by the different influences and especially by the magnificent interventions of classical guitar with Spanish accents. In short, with 'Dukes of the Orient', 'John Payne' and 'Erik Norlander' put us a few years back to our delight and, if you are fans of ‘Asia' or, simply if you like progressive and melodic rock from the 80/90, this 'Dukes of the Orient' is certainly for you...

Line Up / Musicians

John Payne (Vocal, Bass, Guitar), Erik Norlander (Keybords) + Guests : Bruce Bouillet (Guitar), Guthrie Govan (Guitar), Jay Schellen (Drums), Jeff Kollman (Guitar), Molly Rogers (Cordes), Moni Scaria (Guitar)