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Hailing
from Madrid Nexx bring forth their debut album 'Colours', and what a
thoroughly polished offering it is too. Bringing together the sounds of
Fleetwood Mac and Vixen with a very solid and professional sounding
result. Nexx where originally a cover band whose influences included the
likes of Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Toto, Europe and Journey to name but a
few.
Fronted by the petite Patricia Tapia, don’t let her stature fool you.
This little lady has an amazingly powerful voice. The opening track
'Arches of Faith' has an almost mystical intro that has you mesmerized
before it opens up into a full rock ballad. It really does make you sit
up and take note. Track two 'Remember' has a definite Heart/Vixen sound
to it and is sure to appeal to more than a few AOR traditionalists out
there.
Following on from that we have another power balled, 'Get Fire'. This is
much more guitar influenced track which starts to wet your appetite to
find out just how good a guitarist Bernardo Ilobregat really is. Other
tracks of note on the album include 'After the Storm', 'A Good Time
Comes', and 'If you could read my Mind'. What the heck let's be honest
about this, Nexx are a welcome breath of fresh air to the AOR/Melodic
Rock scene.
There are a lot more seasoned bands out there that would do well to take
notice of this band. It's about time we saw more female fronted rock
bands out there that had true talent and substance to them. Nexx need no
gimmicks and they are such a classy act I doubt they'd even attempt to
try and fake anything about themselves. What we have here is true
musicianship and a group of young people who have so much enthusiasm and
passion for their work that it really does shine through in their music.
For those of you who loved all those hits that Heart put out in the mid
eighties then one listen to Nexx and you'll be totally transfixed.
Subtly blending the melody of the magical keyboards together with the
gentle guitars, what we have here is pure genius.
On CD they sound amazing, but don't be fooled into thinking this is all
studio production and the work of some technician who's twiddled with
knobs for days on end to achieve the finished product. This band has
more substance than most bands can only dream of.
The song 'Wake Up' actually sounds vaguely mystical in a Magnum-esq type
way, reminiscent of perhaps 'A Story Tellers Night' era. Being a big
Magnum fan this delights me to be able to find a comparison to this band
in such a modern, happening, and very exciting new band. Who knows what
road lies ahead of them and what twists and turns their musical careers
will take them. One thing is for sure, when Nexx perform live those
watching them stand there and gaze in absolute wonderment. You become so
bewitched by them that you almost forget to keep breathing.
I've witnessed Nexx perform at two Gods festivals now and I have to say
if you think they sound amazing on CD then you really got to check these
people out live. They are a trillion times better and then some. You owe
it to yourself to give this album at least one listen before you make up
your mind about it. Nexx are the ever-flowing river, the wind in the
trees calling out your name. They are the face of a new dawn of melodic
rock and I for one applaud them for bringing forth such exciting
material as this to the masses.
They've come a long way in a relatively short time and if there is any
justice in the world then they will propel ever forward and into the
bigger picture to become household names. Hey, who would have thought
Heart would have become as big as they did? I really do hand and heart
believe Nexx are more than capable of achieving that very same super
stardom status in the world of rock.
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