Vocalist extraordinaire Jeff Scott Soto, whose previous
credits include Journey, Yngwie Malmsteen, Talisman and W.E.T., released his
latest solo album in 2012. His music remains faithful to the era that he
started in: Loud, brash, 80s rock and metal.
JSS’s voice here is as powerful as it ever is, showing that
despite over 30 years of singing melodic hard rock, he can still hit the high
notes.
The album is well balanced with anthemic, thundering guitar
tracks, complete with shredding guitar solos, and more melodic tracks which are
intended to get lighters rising up in audiences. Track by track, there are few duff numbers,
Although some may label the whole album as radio-friendly
cheese-rock, complete with power ballads and ostentatiousness which wishes that
80s success would once again return- I am partial to 80s bombast, so I am not
going to hold that against the album. However the album does feel nostalgic at
times, almost refusing to acknowledge any musical developments since Arena Rock
stopped getting significant airplay.
Lyrically, the album focuses on standard radio rock themes
of love and cars, with little attempt at lyrical depth, the purpose of the
songs being to get a crowd rocking, not thinking.
Overall, this is an album for the 80s written in the 2010’s.
The album keeps up a rock attitude the whole way through, but does feel at
times very much like a nostalgia album of a star still trying to cling onto a
bygone era. The album isn't bad at all- it just feels a bit cheesy and
nostalgic, and doesn't quite have the same modernised rejuvenation that some
similar artists have managed in recent years.
6/10
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