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Artist: Soul Seller |
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Some
might suggest that the world of Melodic/Hard Rock has been dominated by bands
coming out of the Scandinavian quarter, and to a certain point this is true,
and the quality of the music coming out of that area has always been the dominating factor in
this. But in recent years there has been a spate of great bands coming
out of Italy as well and another band to add to that ever growing list are Soul
Seller. The band are based around the brothers Zublena, with Dave on guitars
and Mike on bass. The band started out back in 1999 and in those early days
experimented with differing genres from Glam to Hard Rock. Like
all new bands finding their feet the band suffered from varying line-up
changes, which ultimately led to the band breaking up, but then in 2010 the
Zublena brothers decided they still had some fire in their bellies and when
the band brought in Michael Carrata on vocals, Cris Audiso on lead
guitar and Steve Bucci on drums, the vision that the brothers originally
had, finally started to come into being. The
band's debut release 'Back To Life' shows the guys have their hearts
planted firmly in the 80’s Melodic Hard Rock scene, although they do manage to make it sound fresh and more edgy, with heavier elements all
wrapped in some superb hooks. The
album opens up with ‘Wings Of Freedom’ and instantly you feel the
quality of not only the musicianship involved, but also the song writing.
Two
elements that make for great melody rich rock. Throw in the excellent
vocals of Carrata and the band are on to a winner. The
album keeps on impressing with excellent riff laden ‘Change Your Heart
Tonight’, a real old school foot-tapper that features a solo from White
Skull’s Danilo Bar. This is quickly followed by the excellent ‘All I
Can Promise’, which is a real melodic gem. Then
it's time for the second guest artist on the album as Oliver Hartman
brings his massive vocals to the mix, as he duets with Carrata on ‘Keep
On Moving’, which ranks as one of my favourites off the album. There
is a short keyboard intro ‘Hope On The Horizon’, which leads into
‘Old Hero’s Prayer’. Again stunning melody rich rock that this
genre really thrives upon. Great stuff! The
title track ‘Back To Life’ is up next. This one builds on a heavy intro,
but soon the that classic hard rock sound comes through. This one reminds
me of old school UFO, hard rock with an ounce of blues thrown into the
mix for good measure, before the soaring guitars of the excellent ballad
‘Hell Of Tears’. The
Melodic Rock keeps on coming thick and fast with ‘A Message From
Planet Venus’ and my personal favourite ‘New Power Day’. A track
filled but chunky licks and a mighty back-beat, all brought together with
the excellent vocals of Carrata once more. What
band who's influences go back to the heyday of Melodic Rock wouldn’t
be complete without an anthem or two, and Soul Seller have their own with the
rocking ‘Rock Still Stands’, before the album closes with the epic
‘Beautiful Heretic’s Dream’, showing that the Italian economy may be in turmoil
at the minute, but the Melodic and
Hard scene is on solid foundations as long as great quality bands like
Soul Seller continue to produce great albums like this. |
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Tracklisting: 1. Wings Of Freedom |
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