Tag Archives: aor

ARCTIC RAIN – Unity

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On their debut album (2020’s ‘The One’), Arctic Rain largely specialised in classic sounding melodic rock, but weren’t afraid to temper a big chorus with a slightly harder edge on occasion. That record presented a selection of very 80s sounding songs in tandem with some great guitar work, and as such, provided a huge amount of entertainment for lovers of bands like Alien, Last Autumn’s Dream and Miss Behaviour.

Their second LP, ‘Unity’, is a worthy follow up to a great debut, even though it sometimes takes a very different approach. Despite a heavier sound in places, the big choruses retain the same melodic charm as before, and on at least half of the songs, there are still some very broad melodies shining through. This is a record that fans will still enjoy, but it is also the kind of record that shows the band pushing forward.

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TEN – Something Wicked This Way Comes

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Ten’s fifteenth studio album ‘Here Be Monsters’ was easily the band’s finest collection of songs in many a year. Although a lot of their post-Chris Francis albums are home to some great tracks, Ten’s later output, when taken as a whole, sometimes feels patchy or like a band desperately trying to recycle old glories. ‘…Monsters’ was a cut above. It’s choruses were often great; the music had a sense of fire that had been partly absent for a while, and the vocal contributions from the great Gary Hughes were especially good throughout. With all of that in mind, 2023’s ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’ had a lot to live up to. The fact that the songs were recorded in tandem with ‘Here Be Monsters’ automatically stood the record in good stead, but would it merely made up from the tracks that weren’t good enough to make the cut almost a year earlier?

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ALEX MEISTER – Rock And A Hard Place

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Much like the works of Frontiers Records signing Michael Palace, guitarist Alex Meister is very happy to celebrate a big haired rock and metal past. Throughout ‘Rock And A Hard Place’, his song writing is rooted in a pre-grunge landscape, and his playing is swamped in influences that pull from melodic metal, AOR and trashy hard rock in almost equal measure. Those who like that sort of thing will definitely find something to enjoy on this solo debut, since Meister’s love for the style comes through with ease, and even when the record’s production values aren’t quite as big as the musical ideas, his knack with a chorus is more than evident.

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ROB MORATTI – Epical

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For most AOR fans, Rob Moratti is a man who’ll need no introduction. However, here’s a quick recap for anyone unfamiliar with his career: his early work with his eponymously named band put him on the map via some chunky sounding melodic hard rock, and his brief tenure as frontman with Saga elevated his profile considerably. At other times, he could be found as frontman for AOR band Final Frontier, or sporadically releasing solo material.

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NEVENA – Nevena

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Serbian vocalist Nevena Dordevic came to the attention of Frontiers Records via her friendship with The Big Deal’s guitarist Srdjan Brankovic, whose own band released their debut album on the label in May 2022. Seemingly, his championing of Nevena was met with a huge amount of trust which was not misplaced.

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