Put together at the suggestion of Frontiers Records as a classic rock vehicle to display the talents of legendary rock vocalist Joe Lynn Turner, Rated X is a heavy rock supergroup whose sound is – somewhat unsurprisingly – heavily indebted to Rainbow and mid-80s Deep Purple. As an ex-member of Rainbow, Turner is one of a few who can lay claim to this classic rock sound as being partly his own. Perhaps more importantly, he’s also one of a few veteran rock singers who’s still capable of lending some decent vocal chops to most projects when called upon to do so. Just one listen to the Sunstorm albums confirms his place as one of the all-time greats, so the record label’s faith in his abilities – even at the age of 63 at the time of this band’s formation – is justified.
Tag Archives: frontiers records
New Winger video: Queen Babylon
In September 2014, AOR legends Winger released a video for the title track of their current album ‘Better Days Comin’. Barely three weeks later, they have another video treat for you, this time for the hard rocker ‘Queen Babylon’, taken from the same long-player.
New Winger video: “Better Days Comin”
As part of the ongoing promotion for their sixth studio album, AOR legends Winger have issued a new video for ‘Better Days Comin’, the title track from the current LP.
The full video can be seen below.
STATE OF SALAZAR – All The Way
At a time when so many AOR albums seem to be constructed from predictable European inflected bombast – often well played but full of forgettable material, or else just poorly executed all round – it’s an absolute pleasure when a disc comes along that impresses. This full length release from State of Salazar does just that. Bringing together the talents of various Swedish musicians and fronted by vocalist Marcus Nygren (previously of metal band 8-Point Rose), ‘All The Way’ offers something near melodic perfection. With similar sounds to their closest contemporaries Work of Art, celebrating the sounds of Toto and Survivor, the result is the best AOR record since State Cows dropped their debut in 2011.
MOONLAND – Moonland feat. Lenna Kuurmaa
The record company office, sometime early 2014. Approximately 2:47pm, European time. A couple of hours of brainstorming for new ideas has reached a typical impasse. A man in his mid fifties with thinning hair paces up and down anxiously. Without anything fresh to put forth, he calls for assistance. Taking a phone from the pocket of his thirty year old stonewashed jeans, he pokes at the keypad.
“Is that Del Vecchio?” he asks, somewhat expectantly, “we need your help… Do you have any new songs? Bueno. Do you have connections to any European female vocalists we’ve not yet recorded? You do? Stupendo!”…