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This is the latest piece of work from Michael Vescera who is known for his work with Yngwie Malmsteen, Obsession, Loudness and Roland Grapow. For his solo album Vescera could gather some interesting musicians as Mats Olausson, Jim Bell and BJ Zampa (both House Of Lords), Chris McCarvill (Jeff Scott Soto band, Obsession) and others. He also introduces two young guitarists to the metal scene, 17-year old Joey Concepcion from Conneticut and Ango Tasso from Tawain.
The opener Between Heaven And Hell is a fast neo-classical tune which is something you might expect when you look at Vescera's past. The song has a catchy hook and is even varying a bit in speed. Here you also get a first furiously played guitar solo. With Sign Of Things To Come they get heavy! A mid-paced heavy rocker with great, catchy vocals. An ear catcher!
Shine On is a nice track with a bit late 80's flair, but nothing special... The American singer and his mates change a bit with Something To Believe which has an epic touch, a dash of melancholy and emotional vocals. Next in line is a heavy rocker called Crossing The Line - which shows that they offer a large variety of sounds between melodic metal, neo-classical rockers and power metal tunes. Well, I've Seen The Light gives me mixed feelings, coz there are some cool parts and on the other hand the repetitive parts bore me... With (When You're) Cryin' they offer a powerful ballad and here Vescera can show more emotions and the band steps back a bit. One of the best songs on this album. Another one you should check out is Pain. Last, but not least they offer a classic influenced tune called Thrill Of It All - a short instrumental which is a kind of outro.
Resume: Great singer, great musicians, some great songs, some mediocre ones... I miss a real killer song to make the album shine... The album has its moments. A decent piece of music, but if that's enough these days, I don't know. Fans of Mike Vescera will dig it for the masters voice. And who is into neo-classical metal, but like some variety, should check it out!
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