Frontiers (label)
06 October 2015 (released)
20 September 2015
To be honest, when I hear the term ‘Melodic Hard Rock’ I cringe. Generally the music so described is not particularly melodic and so often is synth and string loaded to wash away any semblance of rock – hard or otherwise. This is different.
Joel Hoestra is best known as the current lead guitarist with Whitesnake (since 2014) but in fact he has been around for a long while and done stints and sessions with Night Ranger, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Dee Snyder, Foreigner, The Turtles – you get the picture.
This is his fourth solo album in 15 years and he has gathered a bunch of superb musicians around him – Jeff Scott Soto (Journey & Yngwie Malmsteen) along with Russell Allen (Adrenaline Mob) on vocals, Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath, Dio) on drums and Tony Franklin (The Firm) on bass plus guest appearances from Derek Sherinian, Charlie Zeleny (Joe Lynn Turner) and Coldplay’s Dave Egger on cello – and both produced the album himself and wrote all the songs.
What sets this apart from others in the ‘Melodic Hard Rock’ genre is the power of the playing, the aggression and the real passion in the vocals and the guitar playing. Appropriate keyboards – no strangulated synths washing all over the music – as you would expect from Derek Sherinian and some great songs that actually have melody and a coherent form.
Opening track ‘Say Goodbye To the Sun’ is a monster with huge drumbeats and soaring, almost screamed, vocals, powerful bass and guitar lines and a heart-stopping riff. That song alone sets it apart from the bulk of ‘Melodic Hard Rock’ bands but when you add the assault of the title track it is easy to see that this is in a place of its own.
Sure, there are influences but when you have a bunch of musicians with this kind of pedigree it is hardly a surprise.
The upshot of all this really is a band who rock with passion and use melody in their music rather as an excuse for a lack of passion and power.
There are some great bands who play in this genre – Whitesnake, Foreigner – but I would rather call it ‘Hard Rock with Melody’ – a mouthful but then the band are bigger than the label.
