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суббота, 5 ноября 2011 г.

Mecca – Undeniable (2011)



Great Melodic Rock From USA

Mecca (2002) still remains as one of the best AOR albums of the past decade.
Since the band finished a lengthy road trip in 2005, they have been ensconced way in darkened rehearsal rooms and recording studios slaving away on new material. Six years in the making, and finally the 2nd album, "Undeniable", is here.

So was the wait worth it?
The answer is: Mecca's "Undeniable" is an AOR masterpiece.
It's deep, creative, with layers of textures and clever arrangements. Years of studio time, re-recordings, re-arrangements paid off.
With perfect songwriting and incredible performances by truly session monsters, this album is what pure AOR is all about.
All tracks are marvelous, no need to pick highlights, all are fantastic.
To name afew, just listen numbers such as "From The Start", with its great twin lead section, the soaring title track and the riff heavy "Closing Time" with its quirky and restrained synth motif all hold the attention throughout.

And all truly great AOR records should have a true rock out number, and we have it on "W2W", a track that kicks off with a riff to die for and a shred solo blended into a song that sounds like Boston at their best.
And the ballads, ahh.. perfect ones. Just take the sublimely subtle picked riff on "Deceptive Cadence" or the crisp and crunchy backing on "Did It For Love" as a couple of examples, these are tracks that are well thought through, not by the numbers work outs thrown together.


1. Perfect World
2. Closing Time
3. Ten Lifetimes
4. Life's too Short
5. I Know
6. Did It for Love
7. From the Start
8. Deceptive Decadence
9. W2W
10. Undeniable
11. As I Walk Alone


Download at plotn08.com

четверг, 3 ноября 2011 г.

Amoral – Beneath (2011)



Power From Finland !Great band!

Finnish metal/hard rock outfit Amoral has completed work on it’s 5th studio album. “Beneath” was recorded at Sound Supreme studios in Hämeenlinna, Finland, and was produced by Janne Saksa and guitarist Ben Varon. The album will be released in late 2011, with the first single out by the beginning of summer.
“I’d describe the album as ‘three steps forward, one step back’”, says Varon. “There are several nods to our past in form of long songs, intricate riffs and growling vocals. But the main focus is still on the strong melodies, big choruses and catchy riffs, just as was on our last album ‘Show Your Colors’”.
“Beneath” marks the first time new guitarist Masi Hukari has recorded with the band. Hukari – who joined the group late in the songwriting process – immediately wrote two songs together with Varon, both which ended on the album. Another first is that, from now on, Amoral has two lead guitar players.
“Masi is such a talent, it would have been a crime to make him ‘just’ the rhythm guitarist. It’s been killer to be able to do lead trade-off for the first time in the band’s history, for example. Masi is responsible for many of the guitar highlights of the album”, Ben declares.
The band documented the recording of “Beneath” in their studio blog, which was updated daily during the session. You can read the blog here:http://amoralinthestudio.blogspot.com/
Amoral will end their months-long break from playing live by doing a one-off show at On The Rocks in Helsinki on June 3rd. The idea is to break in the new guitarist, as well as trying out several brand new songs onstage for the first time. Check out a trailer for the show here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSPAcwyOg..Po

http://www.amoralweb.com/
http://www.facebook.com/amoralweb
http://twitter.com/amoralweb
http://www.myspace.com/amoralweb


01. Beneath (8:46)
02. Wrapped in Barbwire (3:02)
03. Silhouette (3:59)
04. Things Left Unsaid (4:59)
05. (Won't Go) Home (4:22)
06. Closure (5:38)
07. Same Difference (4:39)
08. Hours of Simplicity (3:47)
09. Wastelands (3:39)
10. This Ever Ending Game (3:56)
11. No Future (4:00)
12. Of Silent Stares & Fire Lost (7:07)


Download at plotn08.com