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On disc: Shadowman



Ghost In The Mirror - Claudia Ehrhardt - 9 stars
Watching Over You - Lars Bjørn - 7 stars


www.overland-shadowman.com







Watching Over You

Watching Over You
(Escape Music - 2011)


Shadowman vocalist Steve Overland has enormous experience from many years in British rock music from his long time efforts in FM. But also in the band Shadowman with guitarist Steve Morris it has been a success story with the 3 previous albums so far. Now comes the next in line where they continue the way that Overland is so good at. They make rock music in the same line as Saga, Toto, and Huey Lewis with easy listening rock that follows the same path generally throughout the album, but that's not a bad thing when the results is a dominant guitar kick in the face from Steve Morris. The best parts are Renegades with melodic heavy rock with lots of quality, Waiting For A Miracle is also a heavy rock tune in the same thrilling line, and at the end of albums comes the true pearls in Whatever It Takes where they give a little extra power to the classic heavy rock. Justify is a song where they underline that sublime hard rock sound which characterizes the whole album. If you need relaxing and listen to good rock'n'roll this is a perfect album for that purpose. Great work from Overland and Morris.


7 stars

Lars Bjørn
 

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Ghost In The Mirror

Ghost In The Mirror
(Escape Music - 2008)


The cover artwork is a bit dark and might mislead you, coz this is not a prog metal album, this is hard rock! And when you look at the line-up then you know what to expect - British hard rock! Shadowman is FM singer Steve Overland, Heartland guitarist Steve Morris, the Thunder boys Chris Childs (bass) and Harry James (drums) and keyboarder Steve Millington.
They kick off with the fast heavy rocker Road To Nowhere and show right from the start that their domain is hard rock with great hooks. The up-tempo rock is a good opener which gets a vintage 70's touch due to the keyboard play. Somehow the track reminds me of Damn Yankees... and Survivor. A blend of them... No Mans Land is a fast rocker with a bluesy touch and a dash of Deep Purple. The keyboard is quite Lord-ish. The following Bad For You is a bit slower and would have fit on any Bad English album, but don't expect Shadowman to be clones! It's just that in hard rock there are more often similarities then e.g. in prog rock. And the songs are just fun to listen to, and so I don't care, if there are similarities. If I would listen to the album and not reviewing it, I might not even thing about other bands! So, enjoy the music for what it is, good hard rock with a dash of blues and great hooks.
At Colour Of Your Love guitarist Steve Morris shows his skills in a short solo part, but most of the time he and his pal Steve Millington deliver the melodic playground for Steve Overland. A slight Spanish touch gets Fire And Ice when they open up with some Spanish classic guitar part, but then it becomes a cool straight hard rock tune. A 70's heavy rocker is Keeper Of My Heart, and even if the Hammond is adding the 70's flair it ain't backdated! The balladesque I've Been Wrong Before reminds me a bit of Gary Moore... A touching power ballad. At Blues City Overland reminds me even more of Gary Hughes, but as Gary Hughes is an excellent singer, I don't care. Very cool track! A country touch has Outlaws, at least in the beginning. The mid-paced rocker which sticks out due to the country touch and also the guitar work. Especially at the end they move towards country rock. The last track is a happy rocker Little Miss Midnight. A good time rocker for a cruise in summer.
Everybody who loves bands like Bad English, FM, Thunder, Whitesnake and Gary Hughes should check out these guys!


9 stars

Claudia Ehrhardt
 

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           ©2008-2015 by Claudia Ehrhardt • E-Mail: contact@ice-vajal.com


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