Reviews: Fortune, Semblant, First Signal, Poison Rose (Reviews By Matt Bladen)

Having release what many believe is the best AOR album of that era, with their Camel/MCA debut (which is technically their second album!) brothers Richard and Mick Fortunes' band, then took a lengthy hiatus releasing their comeback album II in 2019, along with a live album in 2020, a few short years later Level Ground is released as only their third studio album but one that encapsulates the AOR sound perfectly. Richard (lead guitar) and Mick (drums) are not the only siblings in the AOR style as both the Nelson Twins (Nelson) and the Porcaro brothers (Toto) are also key members of the genre. In fact Toto's keyboardist plays piano and keys on the track I Will Hold You Up, though Bob Emmett supplies the keys elsewhere. 

There is a course some sort of unwritten synergy between any band that features siblings and you can hear that on Level Ground. Be warned this is about as radio friendly as if gets so if the sounds of Night Ranger, Journey, Styx and even Asia are not your bag you may want to sidestep this record however if your music taste ends as grunge appears then you'll love the slick melodies, anthemic choruses and a progressive tinge as well. A track such as Judgement Day does this very well, the repeating synth line and bouncy riff that's topped with melodic lead guitar flourishes, it's all very Journey, Ricky Rat's bass keeping that beat with Mick as Larry Greene, the other member of the band from the original line up alongside the brothers, gives a great vocal performance. 

Level Ground brings a classic style of AOR that could easily feature in Stranger Things or any number of 80's set shows. Its 2022 but for 46 minutes pretend its 1988. 8/10

Semblant - Vermillion Eclipse (Frontiers Music Srl) 

Vermillion Eclipse is the second Frontiers Music release (fourth overall) from Brazilian symphonic/melodic/death metal band. Their first on the label was Obscura but due to the pandemic they were unable to tour the album as much as they had wanted to, so they used the time spent in lockdown to write this album, inspired by the collective events such as losing family to Covid, having children and a general need to record music and bring some hope to their fans, they focussed all their energy on making this album a true representation of what Semblant want to achieve as a band. 

From Enrage to Day One Oblivion it seems Semblant have discovered another gear, seamlessly incorporating the huge orchestrals of bands such as Nightwish, with the dual female clean/male harsh of bands like Epica or After Forever and the melodic death metal assault of them as well. Vermillion Eclipse is a blistering, heavy enough for those that like a bit of bite to their metal but with enough melody that it has a much broader appeal. Formed by vocalist Sergio Mazul and keyboardist J. Augusto, Semblant was created to blend the heavy and not so heavy elements, adding death metal, power metal and even some electronics into their sound for a dark amalgamation. 

Sergio's bark and deep cleans are paired with Mizuho Lin's soaring cleans, giving tracks such as Purified a feel of Italian band Lacuna Coil as the voices each take a lead and combine well. The rest of the band are rounded out by Juliano Ribeiro (guitar), Welyntom "Thor" Sikora (drums), and Johann Piper (bass) all adding savagery and skill to this record, which improves upon their last in a number of ways, but mainly they write songs that are now, more suited to a broader audience than what they have written before. This is noticeable shift towards a more well rounded approach, just check out The Human Eclipse, while also retaining their early style. With the world now freeing up, they can bring these songs (and the ones from their previous records), to crowds around the globe, watch out for Semblant performing near you, as they do this symphonic metal style very well. 8/10   

First Signal - Closer To The Edge (Frontiers Music Srl)

No it's not Harry Hess (Harem Scarem) and Daniel Flores (Murder Of My Sweet), covering Yes (though that would be interesting), Closer To The Edge only shares a title with the English prog rockers. Musically this fourth entry into the First Signal catalogue retains the melodic rock vibe of the three previous records, the excellent vocals of Harry Hess still lead First Signal, but this is the third record with Flores after the collaboration started initially between Hess and Dennis Ward as Harem Scarem (Hess' main band) were on hiatus. Since then Harem Scarem have returned but there's still a lot of similarities between them and First Signal, though much more likeness to the first two Scarem records. 

Flores does his usual trick of handling drums and production as Andi Kravljaca and Jonny Trobro provide the guitar and bass respectively  while there's a lot of guests contributing to the songwriting; Pete Alpenborg (Arctic Rain), Guillermo Del Medio (Inner Stream), Alessandro Del Vecchio, Kristian Fyhr (Seventh Crystal), Herman Nori all bringing songs for those soulful vocals of Hess to belt out from the fist clenching anthems like I Don't Want To Feel The Night Is Over and Irreplaceable to the rockier offerings such as Don't Look Away and Don't Let It End along with mega ballads like One More Time and Angel With A Rose. Another collection of melodic rock/AOR tracks ideal for Canadian singer Harry Hess to perform well. Once again the First Signal project gets your attention. 7/10

Poison Rose - Little Bang Theory (Frontiers Music Srl)

One of Italy's and Frontiers' best kept secrets vocalist Marco Sivo has contributed songs and backing vocals to label projects like Gioeli-Castronovo, Lovekillers feat. Tony Harnell, and Sweet Oblivion feat. Geoff Tate, Hell In The Club and Secret Sphere. So much like Jeff Scott Soto he has now stepped up to the lead vocalist role on his own band spurred on by the recommendation of Frontiers producer/keyboardist/bassist Alessandro Del Vecchio. Del Vecchio plays keys/bass here but Sivo has gone into his contact list for the remaining band members calling on drummer Edo Sala (Sunstorm, Lovekillers) along with guitarists Aldo Lonobile (Secret Sphere, Edge Of Forever) and Andrea Seveso (Robin McAuley, Jorn), to round out Poison Rose. 

So what do Poison Rose sound like? Well Little Bang Theory comes from the same style as Edguy, Freedom Call and Royal Hunt, bouncy melodic metal as the riffy songs add parts of power metal and AOR. A supremely talented band deliver these songs, written by Sivo and some great guest writers, with experience, setting the table for the centerpiece of Marco Sivo's powerful vocals that remind me of Tobias Sammet of Edguy/Avantasia. Adept at both ballads like Eternally Wild And Free and rockers like Your Eyes Again as a track such as Devil (Knock On My Door) combines both those riffs and melodies. As a vehicle for Marco Sivo as a vocalist, Little Bang Theory is a great way of introducing himself to a wider audience, though this is no vanity project as Poison Rose are a legitimate melodic metal band. 7/10