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Artist: Serpentine |
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Last
year the British Melodic/Hard Rock scene got a much needed boost on the new
blood front in the from of Serpentine's debut release ‘A Touch Of Heaven’.
The band were instantly hailed as the saviours of British Melodic Rock
(something that seems to have been a curse to bands in the past).
Not
bad for a band that were in somewhat of a hiatus, with an American singer
who wasn’t up to the task, that compounded with the diminishing British rock scene
not welcoming
new talent the road to fame and fortune, making it all seem like a distant dream.
But
that all changed when former Shy and current TNT frontman Tony Mills stepped
in as vocalist, after a chance encounter with Shy drummer Bob Richards in
2008. The wheels were set in motion and the rebirth of Serpentine took
place some three months later. The
bands debut was a stunning slice of pure Melodic Hard Rock, with Mills at
the helm the band were on to a winner and soon they started working on
the follow up ‘Living And Dying In High Definition’. Sadly things
don’t always run smoothly in this business and Mills although the
vocalist featured on this new release, has had to call time on his vocal duties
with the band, having relocated to Norway full-time to concentrate on TNT.
In his
place the band have found a worthy replacement in the shape of Matt Black, who has
proven his worth with rave reviews on the band recent live tour with Houston
and Crash Diet . So
on to the album itself, this is once again another great Melodic Rock album taking up
the torch where 'A
Touch Of Heaven' left off and even surpassing it in my honest opinion. With
Mills at his vocal best and Chris Gould (guitars), Gareth Noon (keys),
Gareth Vanstone (bass) and Roy Millward (drums) bringing sure melodic
bliss musically this is one, a release that is definitely a worthy
addition to any Melodic Rock
fans collection. The
album opens up in superb style with ‘Deep Down (There’s A Price For
Love)’, with Noon’s keyboards setting the atmospheric undertones
before Mills and the rest of the guys take things to a whole new level,
with towering melodies and Mills at his vocal best. The
album continues its impressive path with the simply stunning
‘Philadelphia’. A more rockier affair with the emphasis more on big
guitar riffs and beefier keyboards, then its ‘Dreamer’, which
features more
of the same big licks from Gould and with some great vocal harmonies as
one has come to expect from Mills. A song that really shows the band can pack a punch when the need
arises. The
tempo is brought down a touch with the excellent ballad ‘Love Is
Blue’ and the storming ‘Where Do We Go From Here’, before picking
things up once more with the rocking ‘Cry’. There is
more than enough rock on this album to keep those pulses racing and
‘Heartbreak Town’ gets the old juices flowing once more, before the
dark edged haunting melodies of ‘Nuremberg’ and the album closer
‘Forgotten Heroes’, which has a real epic feel to the opening, before the track really takes off and rocks
it up big style. As
second albums go this is a corker and I just hope album three with Black
at the helm is equally impressive, one thing's for sure, the guy has big shoes to fill. |
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Tracklisting: 1. Deep Down (There's A Price For Love)
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