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The British hard rockers are around for many years and they last studio album Return To Evermore disappointed some fans. Now 2 years later they are back with The Twilight Chronicles. Opening the album with a bombstic intro called The Prologue which after about 3 minutes leads into Rome. Who expects another bombastic song will be surprised by the heavy guitar riffing. Rome is a heavy melodic rocker which shines through the voice of Gary Hughes. A catchy tune which gives a good impression about Ten 2006, even if it's pretty long with more then 12 minutes!
Some happy chanting leads into The Chronicles. A rock song with a positive vibe. A real earcatcher, but unfortunately partly the band is too much in the back, so that the vocals are too dominant. The arrangement is great, only the mixing takes a bit off the positive impression. An epic ballad is The Elysian Fields which raises pictures when you listen with closed eyes. A kind of soundtrack to an unknown film. Enchanting! In a way the following Hallowed Ground picks up the main theme of The Elysian Fields, but instead of continuing creating soundscapes they guitars take over and it became a real heavy rocker. Interesting idea, the picked up theme builds a bridge between the 2 songs which are so different - and it works well. The drum beat of Oblivion and also some guitar riffing make me think of Styx... But only for about 30 seconds, afterwards it's hard rock with a touch too much of pop. Too sweet for metal fans, I guess.... Even if the following The Masquerade has more keyboards it's more heavy and rocking. A bit more straight forward then the previous track and so I'm wondering, why they have put Oblivion onto the disk. The Masquerade would have done. The tune Born To The Grave remind me of some song from Gary Hughes self-titled solo album released in the early 90's. I can't really say why, coz unfortunately I lost that album in a fire and couldn't replace it yet. Last, but not least When The Night Is Done which is also splitted into 2 parts. A slow, emotional tune - which is perfect to let the album fade out.
For true rockers the low will be the ballad This Heart Goes On, but it ain't a bad tune. Even if it seems to be made for rock radio. But at all his previous works Gary Hughes presented this kind of ballads, so I guess it's in his blood. But there must be a reason for the skip forward button, right? Or just let it run and perhaps you'll like it one day.... As the running time is about 73 minutes they probably should have considered to take a song or two off and make this album a real highlight... Anyway, this album is above the average and worth spending time to listen to it.
Fans of Ten or Magnum will buy this anyway and they won't be disappointed. Other should listen in to The Chronicles, The Elysian Fields, Hallowed Ground and Tourniquet.
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