Swedish Producer and talented musician Chris Laney offers up his first solo album. Having played in bands like Randy Pipers Animal, whilst working on albums for Candlemass, Europe and Bruce Kulick (ex-Kiss), this man has a wealth of talent behind him. So how will this transcribe into his solo material?
First off, the vocals from Chris are very good, clear and precise going between Ian Astbury (the Cult) and Jani Lane (Warrant – USA), the album falls in between this musical category. ‘I Dunno’ whilst having the bouncy charisma of ‘Cherry Pie – Warrant’ has a little bit more quality than out and out clichés and cheese. Some of the tracks have been written by Bruce Kulick, so you do get a sense of his band Union on some of the tracks, it has that same American hard rock feel. ‘Make You Cry’ has an Alice Cooper – ‘Trash’ era sound with the kicking rock ability of Kix, vocally he is doing all those rasps that the grandfather of shock rock does, the thundering bass lines keep the momentum going with a screaming solo added to make things step up a gear. There is no denying there is some good music and arrangements on this disc, I was simply surprised by its similarities to the aforementioned bands, you can certainly hear the influences.
Any fan of classic American Rock will want to get this album, it’s just like all those hair bands but with more soul and talent. The album does not even sound dated as some bands do when they go for this style. Kip Winger could have penned the ballad-type/slower tracks, and this is not such a bad thing, apart from ‘Skin on Skin’, this is a jewel in its own right possessing a powerful arrangement with many musical instruments coming together as if it was all meant to be. The album just flows nicely and brings out quality tunes pure and simple. You could definitely hold a lighter high if you could smoke in venues nowadays to the heartfelt tracks. ‘Fire and Ice’ is laden with strong vocal harmonies whilst ‘I Hate Yer Guts’ (even if it has a strong ‘Bed of Nails’ melody) encapsulates arena hard rock in all its epic glory.
This is a good album, it depends whether you are a fan of this genre. It’s not a substandard release by any means. Each track rocks like there is no tomorrow, the guitar shredding and vocals are just spot on. You will definitely be ‘Pissed At What Ya Missed’ if you don’t listen to this one.
http://www.chrislaney.com
http://www.aorheaven.com
http://www.metalheaven.com
