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Artist: Perfect View |
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There
has been a resurgence of great new Melodic and Hard Rock bands coming
out of Italy over the past couple of years, with noteworthy mentions
going to the likes of Skill In Veins, Shining Line, Planethard and
Moonstone Project, who have all left positive marks on this
reviewer. Now another band on the Avenue Of Allies roster is about
to make in-roads on the scene and they are Perfect View. The
band was put together band in 2008 when Massimilliano Ordine, vocalist
with the band, got together with Francesco Cataldo (guitarist) and Luca
Ferraresi (drummer) to write some tunes combining the sounds of the
likes of Toto, Winger and Journey with elements of Van Halen, Lynch Mob
and their like. They then added some progressive element to create
the perfect view of how they thought the band should sound. With
the bassist Cristian Guerzoni and keyboardist Pier Mazzini coming into
the fold a month or so later, the band were set to bring themselves out
of the darkness and into the light to bring something new to the scene. And
I must say they have done just that with an album as diverse as it is
good. The
album mixes big riffs and melody with a huge vocal presence courtesy of
Ordine, who is the driving force behind the album and a real star of the
future if this album is anything to go by. The
album opens up with the impressive ‘A Better Place’ and straight
away you feel the band has the balance between all the elements just
right, with big riffing guitars and keyboards equally finding a place in
the mix without overwhelming the listener, and with Ordine’s
powerhouse vocals reaching mighty heights, this is a great taste of
what’s to come from the rest of the album. The
album keeps
on going with mid tempo rocker ‘Closer’ and the progressive edged
‘One More Time’ before that Toto element comes into the mix with the
excellent ‘Believe’, one of the tracks of the album for me. And
what Melodic or Hard Rock album wouldn’t be complete without a ballad
or two and this album isn’t any different as the first of the ballads
is next with ‘A Reason To Fight’, a real heart melter with some
simple stirring guitar and piano parts. It's
back to the great Melodic Rock sound with ‘I Need Your Love’, a
little harder edged effort that give Ordine a chance to really stretch
his vocal muscle, but if you like me like a little more meat on your
musical bones then ‘Run’ is gonna shake you down to the bone for
sure. This is up tempo rock at its finest, big licks and a kick
ass rhythm section, with Ordine producing one of his finest vocals of
the entire album. I
said this was a diverse record and this is brought to the forefront with
the bluesy rock of ‘Don’t Turn Away’, which is quickly followed by
the sublime AOR of the title track ‘Hold Your Dreams, before bringing
back the progressive element in with the hard edged funk of
‘Showtime’ and the equally rock funk of ‘Speed Demon. The
album closes in fine style with the ballad ‘Where’s The Love’,
again highlighting what a fine vocal talent Ordine is and a song that
wraps up a very classy debut from a band that will appeal to any fan of
great melody filled rock. |
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Tracklisting: 1. A Better Place |
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