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Artist: Rob Moratti |
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Canadian Rob Moratti set his stall out as great vocalist in the 90’s with his band Moratti, resulting in two albums in '95 and '97. The first being 'Desolation', the second 'Legends Of Tomorrow', but it was his arrival on the Melodic Rock scene with the four Final Frontier albums that really started the ball rolling, making Moratti a firm favourite amongst both fans and critics. Then in 2008 Moratti took another step forward in his career, by taking up the vacant mike with Prog/ AOR legends Saga, replacing Michael Sadler, but that was then and this is now. After leaving Saga, Rob has taking the opportunity to set his sights on a new solo album in the form of 'Victory'. The
album boasts a great supporting cast including Reb Beach,
Christian Wolff, Tony
Franklin, Fredrik
Bergh and Saga drummer
Brian Doerner. Together they have put together a great album that
mixes the best of AOR, with some great Prog moments, in a tight and very
enjoyable album. From
the opener ‘Life On The Line’, you know what a class album you're going
to treat your ears and senses to. Stirring riffs from Beach gets this
one going, before Moratti unleashes those razor sharp vocals, cutting
through the air with such grace and majesty. The
album continues its impressive mix of AOR and Prog with the excellent
‘Everything But Goodbye’. A little more on the AOR side this one, with
Moratti’s soar away vocals and some excellent guitar work, all making this
one shine as one of my favourites off the whole album. The
tempo is brought down a touch with the melody rich tones of
‘Lifetime’, before bringing it back up once more with the true AOR
sound of ‘Power Of Love’, and the rockier ‘Hold That Light’, which
has some stunning guitar work. Keeping
with the rockier side of things is ‘On And On’, then it’s a real
change in tempo with the ballad ‘Take It All Back’. A track that
really pulls at the heart strings. A true ballad in all senses of the
word. This is where Moratti really pulls out all the stops vocally and
lyrically. It's
back to the more traditional AOR sound with ‘I Promise You’, before
another change in tempo with the Prog infused keyboards courtesy of
Bergh,
‘Standing On Top Of The World’, before switching back to the AOR with
‘Jennie’. The album then closes with another great ballad in ‘Now
More Than Ever’, with Moratti again giving us yet another stirring vocal
performance. This
isn’t just a stunning release, it's one of the best vocal albums
you’ll hear this year. |
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| Tracklisting:
1. Life On The Line |
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