2020 : Melodic rock and hard rock albums of the first semester
As I did at the end of 2019, during one week, at the rate of 2 per day, I present you a set of albums released for this first semester of 2020 in rock and melodic hard-rock in addition to those already reviewed as for example ’Bonfire’, ’SteelCity’, ’Grand Design’ or ’Xtasy’. The order of posting corresponds to the chronology of the album releases. |
And we end in beauty with the English of 'Vega' who after 'Only Human' in 2018 and like metronomes, release a new album in 2020, 'Grit Your Teeth'. We find the style of the previous opus with 11 small melodic jewels that take us back to the 80s with this time an energy even closer to ‘Def Leppard’. To consume without moderation... |
Line Up / Musicians :Nick Workman (Chant, Guitare), James Martin: Claviers, Marcus Thurston (Guitare), Mikey Kew (Guitare), Tom Martin (Basse), Martin Hutchinson (Batterie) |
In melodic hard rock, we are not used to listen to bands from the Mediterranean basin but rather from Scandinavian countries; and yet, 'Wild Souls' is indeed a Greek band which is already releasing its 3rd studio album 'Queen of My Heart', the last 'Game of Love' dating from 2016 and which have all assets of the best Swedish or Finnish bands. They offer us a quality album with artists who each bring their stone to the edifice and the result is remarkable because the 12 compositions puts you in shape for a whole day in a classic hard-rock but with a formidable efficiency. As examples, we can cite the powerful melodic hits 'Nothing But Loving You', 'Ready to Rock' or 'Hold Me Tight' but they also have a talent for more AOR titles with ‘Love Ain’t No Lie’, 'Queen Of My Heart' or even 'Street Eagles'. |
Line Up / Musicians :George Nikolaou (Chant), Kostis Tsiligiris (Guitare), Thanos Kalantzopoulos (Guitare), Leyteris Naso (Bassd), Michael Saroglou (Batterie) |
'Souls of Tide' is a Norwegian hard rock band that released their 2nd album 'Black Magic', their first baby 'Join The Circus' from 2016. They evolve in a classic hard-rock that brings us back to the 70s with the pioneers of the genre like ‘Led Zeppelin‘, 'Deep Purple' or 'Uriah-Heep'. |
Line Up / Musicians :Vegar Larsen (Chant), Anders Langberg (Guitare), Ole Kristian Østby (Guitare), Øyvind Strõnen Johannesen (Basse), Tommy Kristiansen (Baterie), Kjetil Banken (Claviers) |
'Room Experience' is the project of the Italian 'Gianluca Firmo' created in 2014 and including the singer 'David Redman' (among others 'Pink Cream 69',) with a first album in 2015 ('Room Experience'. They deliver us with this new opus, an AOR which takes us back to the 80s and 90s with accessible melodies which gives the impression that they have always been part of our life. For the occasion, they invited some artists of the melodic hard-rock scene including the very famous 'Alessandro Del Vecchio' who recently released his last baby from the project 'Edge Of Forever'. |
Line Up / Musicians :Gianluca Firmo (Chant, Claviers), David Readman (Chant), Steve De Biasi (Guitare), Davide Barbierai (Claviers), Pierpaolo Monti (Batterie), Simon Dredo (Basse) + Invités : Sven Larsson (Guitare), Alessandro Del Vecchio (Claviers), Iván Gonzalez (Guitare), Lorenzo Foddai (Guitare), Marcello Spera (Choeurs), Matteo Serra (Guitare), Stefano Zeni (Guitare) |
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The Norwegians of 'StoneFlower' started their career some twenty years ago with a first album 'Crack a Little Smile' in 2003 and returned in 2014 for a second opus 'Destination Anywhere' . Their style is close to a classic AOR with influences from groups like ‘Toto’ or ‘Asia’. Some compositions are energetic like 'Gonna Let You Go' or 'The Devil Never Cries' but most are calm mid-tempos like 'What Can Be Done', 'Calling All Stations', 'Shivering Hands', 'Through the Fire' or 'How Does It Feel' and the ballads are not forgotten with 'Kaylee', close to westcoast genre or the last title 'Fall', which is a magnificent refined piano/voice title with a very beautiful guitar solo. |
Line Up / Musicians :John M. Mazaki (Chant), Svenn Huneide (Basse / Choeurs), Tom Sennerud (Guitare, Claviers, Choeurs), Geir Johnny Huneide (Batterie) + Invités : Tommy Denander (Guitare), Bjørn Ole Rasch (Claviers), Gunnar Westlie (Guitare), Per Hillestad (Batterie) |
'Sapphire Eyes' is another Swedish group which has just released their 3rd studio recording 'Magic Moments' after 'Sapphire Eyes' in 2012 and 'Breath Of Eyes' in 2018. This new album is aptly named because we spend magical moments listening to these 11 compositions in an AOR style with unstoppable melodies that immediately get stuck in your head with a magnificent final ballad to add to the best melodic rock ballads. We can also note that the singer 'Annette Oleon' (see her last album here and her last collaboration with ‘Russell Allen’ here) who had already been invited on the previous opus is also part of that one in 'Bring Back The Night'. |
Line Up / Musicians :Kimmo Blom (Chant), Christer Engholm (Basse), Fredrik Eriksson (Batterie), Emil Knabe (Guitare), Niclas Olsson (Claviers) + Invités : Anette Olzon (Chant), Patrik Svärd (Guitare) |
And we continue with Sweden which offers us with 'Captain Black Beard' a new melodic rock album 'Sonic Forces' which is their 5th studio recording and they have now taken a cruising rhythm of one album every two years, 'It's a Mouthful' dating from 2016 and 'Struck by Lightning' from 2018. 10 tracks all as melodic as each other short enough for 41 minutes total, it is the menu of this album which embarks us in an AOR style recalling the formations of the 80s like 'Survivor', 'Journey' or even 'Foreigner'. |
Line Up / Musicians :Martin Holsner (Chant), Robert Majd (Basse), Christian Ek (Guitare), Vinnie Stromberg (Batterie) |
It was only 2 years ago that the Germans from 'DeVicious' released their first album 'Never Say Never' and 'Phase Three', as its name suggests, is their third opus because 2019 saw the release of 'Reflections' which shows the impressive frequency of albums released by this group. With a new singer, the Italian ‘Antonio Calanna’, they offer us 12 melodic compositions in a powerful hard-rock style influenced by the 80s shared between energetic ('Firefly', 'Mysterious', ‘Rising from a Thunder’), mid-tempos ('Pouring-Rain', 'Burning Skies'), more AOR atmospheres ('Walk Through Fire', 'Calling My Name') and a nice acoustic ballad 'Bad Timing' piano/voice. |
Line Up / Musicians :Antonio Calanna (Chant), Radivoj Petrovic (Guitare), Alex Frey (Basse), Denis Kunz (Claviers), Lars Nippa (Batterie) |
We are still heading towards the Scandinavian countries with the Swedes of ‘Skintrade’ which gives us a new opus ‘The Show Must Go On’. This formation had a first period in the 90s with 2 albums 'Skintrade' in 1993 and 'Roach Powder' in 1995. Reformed in 2011, 'The Show Must Go On' is their 4th studio recording of this new period, 2012 having seen the release of 'Past And Present' in 2012 and 'Refuled' in 2014 and ‘Scarred for Life’ in 2015. In this last album, their style is influenced by hard-rock from the 70s with a modern sound and some compositions can make you think of atmospheres of 'Led Zeppelin' ('Chosen Ones', ‘Tower’ or 'Riverof Tears') and they alternate direct and powerful titles and others quieter like 'Show Must Go On' or 'Other Side'. |
Line Up / Musicians :Matti Alfonzetti (Chant, Guitare), Stefan Bergström (Guitare, Choeurs), Håkan Calmroth (Basse), Hasse Sjölander (Batterie, Choeurs) |
After a very good 'Aerial' in 2017, 'Steve Newman' who has also just released a new album 'Our Time on Earth' with his other project 'COMPASS' and who participated as a singer in the project 'Burn' with the album 'Ice Age' of 2018, released in late March 2020 the last studio recording of 'NEWMAN' which already brings his discography to a dozen albums since the release in 1997 of the eponymous first opus of the project 'NEWMAN'. And we are getting used to it, we find Steve's melodic compositions in a fairly classic AOR style but which demonstrates album after album all the talent of the Englishman who continues to enchant us year after year. |
Line Up / Musicians :Steve Newman (Chant, Guitare, Basse, Claviers), Rob McEwen (Batterie) + Invités : Dave Bartlett (Chant), Mark Thompson-Smith (Chant) |
'Arkado' is a Swedish band that was formed a long time ago in 1983 under the name 'BB2' and which ended up in concert in 2018 which made them want to make an album, 'Never Say Never' released in March 2020. They evolves in an AOR style in the great tradition of Scandinavian groups and in the 80s style with an important use of keyboards which are on the same level as electric guitars. |
Line Up / Musicians :Mikael Skafar (Batterie), Bernt Lundgren (Basse), Mikael Svensson (Claviers), Martin Kirschner (Guitare), Philip Lindstrand (Chant), Mikey K Nilsson (Guitare) |
'The Unity' is a German melodic hard-rock band which released its 3rd album 'Pride' after 'The Unity' in 2017 and 'Rise' in 2018. Overall, they offer us powerful and energetic compositions with a talent for accessible melodic lines. |
Line Up / Musicians :Gianbattista Manenti (Chant), Henjo Richter (Guitare), Stefan Ellerhorst (Guitare), Sascha Onnen (Claviers), Jogi Sweers (Basse), Michael Ehré (Batterie) |
‘Wishing Well ’is a Finnish melodic hard rock band that has already released 2 albums, ’Chasing Rainbows’ in 2016 and ’Rat Race’. 2020 sees the release of their first album ‘Do or Die’. |
Line Up / Musicians :Rafael Castillo (Chant), Anssi Korkiakoski (Guitare), Juha Kivikanto (Batterie), Arto Teppo (Claviers), Rick Becker (Basse) |
‘Shaft of Steel’ is an English melodic hard rock band created in 2004 and with a first EP in 2014. 2020 sees the release of their first album ‘Steel Heartbreak’. |
Line Up / Musicians :Robert Fenning (Chant), Alex Markham (Guitare, Choeurs), Adam Carruthers (Guitare), Dominic Swords (Basse, Choeurs), Chris Smurthwaite (Claviers), Michael Levy (Batterie) |
