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Artist: Joey Summer |
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There
is no doubting that Brazil and the rest of South America has a rich
musical culture, and with the likes of Auras, N.O.W. and Highest Dreams
producing some great Melodic/Hard Rock recently, the resurgence in those
genres has again shifted focus away from Europe and once again put the South
America’s on the Melodic Rock map once more. And
another artist to shine from this part of the world is Joey Summer, a
name some may already recognize from the bands Karma and Arena. Now in 2010
Summer returns with the excellent ‘Written On The Horizon’, an album
that captures the spirit that this genre had in the 80’s but with a
more modern soundscape. The
album opens up with ‘Rise Up’ and give a strong indication of what
to expect from the album, a real top notch Melodic Rock song that not
only highlights Summers great vocal attributes, but also his guitar
skills, along with Daniel Lamas on keyboards, and Markcell on bass and Renan
Martins on drums. The
album continues with the track 'Anymore', a song penned by Michael Bormann
with guest bassist Michael Muller of Jaded Heart. This is one hell of
track, a real gritty guitar fuelled hard rocker that has to be one of my
favourite tracks off the album, the guitar solo mid track is just wonderful. The
title track ‘Written On The Horizon’ is another monster of a track,
again featuring a huge guitar sound that is still kept in check due to some great
production. Too many times the guitar is brought too far to the front in
the mix and drowns out the other musicians, but not on this release as Summer has
managed to get it
just right. The
Swedes get in on the writing front on Don’t Believe a song written by
Goran Edman and Fredrik Bergh whose credentials speak for themselves so
you know this is going to be pure Melodic Rock at its best. Well
what great Melodic Rock album wouldn’t be complete without the
compulsory ballad and this album has three real gems to pull at the
heart strings in ‘It’s Only Your Love’, ‘Lorea’ and my personal
favourite, the power ballad ‘I’ll Never Be Alone Again’.
Those
crazy Swedes do it again with Edman and Bergh once again producing the
goods with ‘Tables Turning’, before another highlight the excellent
‘Beating’. Summer
turns it up a notch with the sublime ‘Brand New Day’, again a rich
vocal from Summer is matched once again with a great tune, a song that
will feature strongly as a favourite of many a fan. The
album closes with ‘Rough Ride To Paradise’, a song written by Kee
Marcello. If I said some of the tracks on this album are Melodic Rock
gold then this is a real diamond of track and one that rounds off a great album
that will put the name of Joey Summer on the lips of many in the genre,
fans and musicians alike. |
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Tracklisting
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All content copyright of The Mayfair Mall Zine unless otherwise stated. |
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