Back in the late 80s/early 90s, White Lion released four enjoyable but hit and miss albums. Their 1991 swansong ‘Mane Attraction’, in particular, captured the band in top form, with the epic ‘Lights & Thunder’ and the rocky ‘Leave Me Alone’ showing off the Mike Tramp and Vito Bratta musical partnership at its finest and arguably most intricate.
Tag Archives: frontiers records
MR. BIG – Ten
Since the late 80s, Mr. Big have been one of the most popular acts on the melodic rock scene. Their superior musicianship and a gift for very melodic hooks has made them a hit with musos, the less demanding radio listener, and a whole world of rock fans in between. The albums have always centred around some superb guitar work, but first and foremost, Mr. Big have come armed with accessible songs and melodies, and in Eric Martin, they’ve always had a gifted and reliable frontman, possessed with one of his generation’s finest voices. In terms of smart, melodic rock, an on form Mr. Big can be the full package.
SUNBOMB – Light Up The Sky
Although the name Sunbomb might not be a massively familiar one on the rock scene in 2024, the band features a few familiar faces. Making up the core of the band, LA Guns guitarist Tracii Guns is joined by his old bandmate Adam Hamilton on drums, and taking on vocal duties, you’ll find legendary Stryper man Michael Sweet. This new band aren’t contemporary sounding, nor are they especially subtle, but Sunbomb were never likely to be either. According to Tracii, the main aim was to make the kind of metal album he “would have made at [the age of] seventeen”, back in 1983.
ISSA – Another World
Ever since her breakthrough on the melodic rock scene in 2010 with ‘Sign of Angels’, Scandinavian vocalist Issa Oversveen has been one of Frontiers’ Records most bankable – and prolific – artists. Delivering the equivalent of a new album pretty much every two years, she’s kept herself in the spotlight, gained a lot of positive press from online sources, and become something of a fan favourite. Even 2023’s ‘Lights of Japan’ – her weakest album to date, due to a rather hard production sound – was home to a few great AOR tracks, and over the years, her voice has clearly held up very well.
PRAYING MANTIS – Defiance
With a run of enjoyable albums that began with 2015’s ‘Legacy’, Praying Mantis seemed to go from strength to strength over the following decade. Granted, a few of the tracks on that album and its successors (2018’s ‘Gravity’ and 2022’s ‘Katharsis’) were a little heavier sounding, but Chris and Tino Troy’s gifts for a strong melody continued to set the band apart from so many of the second tier acts associated with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, and when dropping into numbers boasting more of an AOR/melodic rock hook, the band sounded as good as ever.