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Artist: Terry Brock |
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The
name of Terry Brock became synonymous with the band Strangeways, but more
recently Brock has become more known being taking up the role frontman for Giant and really impressed
many with the bands recent album ‘Promise Land’ earlier this
year. Plus now that he has said he is rejoining Strangeways, the name of Brock will
no doubt be on the lips of a lot of both Melodic and Hard Rock fans this year,
and thankfully for all the right reasons. But
enough of that let's get down to business with 'Diamond Blue', Brocks second
solo release, and what a corker of an album. I thought he did a great
job on the Giant album and thought that was some of his best work so
far, but now only a few months later, Brock's produced an album that surpasses
what he did with Giant. This
album sees Brock team up with Mike Slammer and Andy Bigan, with Brock
handling vocals and guitar, Bigan on the drums and Slammer providing
everything else. From the opener and title track ‘Diamond Blue’
there is an air of class about this album from the off, with Brock in
fine form vocally as always, but with Slammer you expect nothing else
than brilliance, and you're not going to be disappointed with this album. Mixing
great melodic hard rock
songs with the more gentle side of the genre, this album will appeal to
all fans of not just the man, but the genre itself. The great tunes
continue with ‘It’s You’ and ‘Jessie’s Gone’, before bringing
the heat with one of my favourite tracks off this superb album ‘No
More Mr. Nice Guy’ (no, not the Alice Cooper ditty!), this is a lick filled rocker of the highest
order. A song that never really stretches Brock vocally he’s equal to the task as we all know. Next
it's time to bring out the heart piercing ammunition with the ballad ‘The
Rain’, again Brocks shows what a versatile singer he really is as he
matches quality and grace with one swoop, as he pulls at the heart
strings with this one. It's
back to the rockier material with another favourite of mine
'Broken'. This one
starts off slowly and builds into a massive almost Power Ballad style
rocker. The
semi-acoustic tones of ‘Face In The Crowd’ are just excellent, so are
the mood driven almost Coverdale like ‘Why’ but it’s the rockier
‘Too Young’, which really shines out for me. This one is pure Melodic Hard
Rock great guitars and a chorus you can sing-a-long
to. This one just
rocks, enough said! Things
get a little more poignant with the excellent ‘Soldier Falls’, before
this great album closes with another great ballad in ‘Face The
Night’. All in all this is one hell of an album and one that highlights one of best
vocalists in the Melodic and Hard Rock genres. I for one can't wait for the new
Strangeways album and the next Giant album if Brock is as on the form as
he is on
this release. |
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Tracklisting:
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All content copyright of The Mayfair Mall Zine unless otherwise stated. |
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