Millenium - Hourglass: The Complete Sessions (Remastered 2017)

hudební novinky 2017 / music news 2017
Užívateľov profilový obrázok
Horex
Metalový král
Metalový král
Príspevky: 28113
Dátum registrácie: 21 Feb 2013, 19:14
Kontaktovať užívateľa:

Millenium - Hourglass: The Complete Sessions (Remastered 2017)

Príspevokod užívateľa Horex » 23 Dec 2017, 13:28

Millenium - Hourglass: The Complete Sessions (Remastered 2017)

Obrázok

Obrázok

Obrázok

Obrázok

Obrázok

Obrázok

Year : 2000 (Remastered Edition 2017)
Style : Melodic Heavy Metal
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + scans
Size : 145 mb


Bio:

Back in 1995 US outfit Eyewitness were one of the first signings of UK melodic rock label Now & Then Records. Formed by ex-Death guitarist Ralph Santolla, the Tampa-based foursome were completed by singer Todd Plant, drummer Oliver Hanson and bassist Steve Hodson. Their debut album was a fine slice of European sounding melodic metal, with soaring vocals and some fine lead playing from Santolla. After a well-received set at the 2nd Gods festival in the UK, their career unfortunately took a nosedive when their second opus - 'Messiah Complex' - proved to be darker and less accessible than the debut. Hailed by some as an under-rated masterpiece, their 1996 CD was only released in Japan. Forced into a rethink about the direction the band were heading in, it was decided that a new moniker was required and that a more straightforward melodic rock direction was the way to go. The first release from this new band would be the material that had originally sparked the label's interest. It was now 1997 and a new Millennium was in sight, so Millenium (consciously spelt with one 'n' to set it apart from the myriad uses of the word around at the time) seemed as good a name as any. The recordings were overdubbed and re-mixed and the self-titled CD was released later that year through Now & Then/MTM. The album was catchier and more melodic than the straight metal of Eyewitness, with greater use of keyboards and a brighter, slightly less European sound. It may not be as consistent as later Millenium CD's, but the soaring melodies of 'Believe In Love' and 'Invincible', the pounding 'Together As One', and the classy power ballad 'Almost Made It To Heaven' won back a lot of the fans that didn't understand 'Messiah Complex'. If 'Millenium' was a step in the right direction then nothing could have prepared the listener for the huge leap in quality that 1999's 'Angelfire' was, but not before there were some changes to the band's line-up. Joining Ralph on second guitar was Florida-based musician Shane French (also a member of Teer) and Austrian bassist Manfred Binder, a long-time associate of drummer Oliver Hanson. The record was tougher sounding with greater emphasis on the layered guitar harmonies of Ralph Santolla and Shane French, the pair created some wonderfully intricate riffs that provided extra hooks along with the already irresistible vocal melodies and harmonies. 'Angelfire' was over an hour of classic music, heavy but tuneful with barely an average song in sight, as shown here by the likes of 'Run', 'Until The Edge Of Time', 'Shamen', 'Beyond The Pain' and the incredible title-track. The CD was released in Europe through Now & Then/Frontiers Records and again through Nippon Crown for the Japanese market. Just before some warm-up dates in the UK with Bob Catley and another appearance at The Gods festival that year, a shock move saw the band replace singer Todd Plant with ex-Vagabond, The Snakes, Mundanus Imperium and Uli Jon Roth frontman Jorn Lande. A man with an incredibly powerful voice and a knack for sounding like many different singers at once (David Coverdale and Ronnie James Dio to name two), Lande would have a major impact on the band's music, not only with his superior vocals, but also in both the writing and production areas. After a protracted period throughout 2000 recording in Florida and Norway, the band released arguably it's finest disc, 'Hourglass', again through Now & Then/Frontiers in Europe and Nippon Crown in Japan. With an improved sound and even more layered guitar and vocal overdubs, the album had just ten songs, but each one was of a very high standard - from the acapella vocal opening of 'The Power To Love' to the catchy 'I Still Believe', to the high drama of 'Chasing Time', and all points inbetween. Covering a variety of styles and tempos, 'Hourglass' is represented by six songs on this compilation, but the other four are just as good. The album was again premiered at The Gods festival, after which the band went on to play some shows in Spain with Ten and also did some recording for a proposed album of cover versions that was sadly never finished. The bonus tracks on the second disc of this CD include two unreleased Jorn Lande tracks from the 'Hourglass' sessions, 'Rain' and 'Anybody', as well as four demos from the Todd Plant era. The most interesting bonuses are the only four finished tracks from the aborted covers CD, all of which feature Jorn Lande and famed Ozzy/Rainbow/Ten keyboard player Don Airey and demonstrate the bands love of the original songs whilst at the same time making them their own. The members of Millenium separated soon after to concentrate on other things. Recently Todd Plant, who toured for a while with ex-members of the Doobie Brothers, has reunited with Ralph and Shane for a new Millenium album 'Jericho'. The CD includes a new version of 'Heresy', a song featured here in it's original demo form. The 'Best of Millenium' serves as a timely reminder of one of the most inventive and tuneful commercial metal bands of the last few years, the consistency of the songs and excellence of the performances is there for all to hear.

Album:

Regarded as one of the best Jorn Lande recordings, Hourglass is the only album he has made as front man for MILLENIUM, the USA band created by guitar virtuoso Ralph Santolla. Long time out of print, now has been digitally remastered by Divebomb Records under the title "Hourglass: The Complete Sessions" including 6 bonus tracks and new artwork.Also featuring contributions from legendary keyboardist Don Airey (RAINBOW, OZZY, WHITESNAKE) and talented Howard Helm (ex REFUGEE and recently featured here on the blog in ALDENFIED), Hourglass exposed to a wider audience the then up-and-coming Norwegian vocalist Jorn Lande.Mixing melodic hard rock melodies and melodic metal riffs, this is one of those rare albums that’s practically flawless from start to finish with an equal dose of power and catchiness.You can tell as soon as album opener “Power To Love” kicks in that Hourglass has a totally classic hard rock feel, only with a heavier edge and plenty of soul. Comparisons to Rainbow and Whitesnake are inevitable given Don Airey’s presence and the fact that Jorn sometimes sounds more like David Coverdale than David Coverdale does. Lande is one of the most dynamic and powerful vocalists in the genre, and his presence alone takes the band to a higher level. Comparison’s to Jorn’s solo albums are appropriate as well. In fact, Ralph Santolla played guitar on JORN’s 'Starfire' album. Santolla’s melodies and solos further lock in that classic hard rock / melodic metal sound.There isn't a weak track on the entire record, but if I have to mention standouts title track “Hourglass” and “Masquerade” are absolutely killer songs, and the soulful bluesy ballad “I Will Follow” has that classic Whitesnake feel in a big way. Lande vocals on some of the other cuts such as “Superstar” and “I Still Believe” call to mind Jeff Scott Soto and his Takara project, but overall Millenium has a quite distinctive sound thanks to Santolla’s unique guitar playing.The grand piano passages supplied by Dag Stokke (TNT) on “No More Miracles” are beautifully performed and quite refreshing to hear alongside the synthesiser. The upbeat ”Rocket Ride” has a very catchy chorus with the feeling of an radio single, a song with a strong second half of the '80s vibe. Then “Chasing Time” sounds like it would have been right at home on the debut Phenomena release, very classic, punchy hard rock with an edge.It's well known JORN love for '80s music, no matter the genre, so it's not strange the band recorded some classic tunes during the same sessions, not included into the original release but featured here as bonus tracks, plus two other songs that didn't make it into the final tracklist.There's a very melodious take on JEFFERSON STARSHIP classic "Jane", an impressive cover of RAINBOW's "I Surrender", a killer updated re-work of MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP's staple "On And On", and an extended, fabulous version of SWEET's "Love Is Like Oxygen".Hourglass always has been one of my absolute favorite albums which JORN's voice has graced (and he has done quite a few). This "Hourglass: The Complete Sessions" remastered reissue is the defintive version of this killer album, also featuring a new, much better cover artwork.Fully remastered by Jamie King at The Basement Recording, this 16-track collection finds the 10-song original album and 6 bonus cuts from the era compiled onto a single 76-minute CD for the first time.A monster rocking album.

Line-Up:

Jorn Lande lead and backing vocals
Ralph Santolla lead guitar, keyboards
Shane French lead and rhythm guitar
Manfred binder bass
oliver Hanson drums, percussion
Don Airey guest keyboards
Dag Stokke guest keyboards, piano
Howard Helm additional keyboards
Tracy LaBarbera additional vocals, tambourine, keyboards

Tracklist:

01. Power To Love
02. Wheels Are Turning
03. Hourglass
04. No More Miracles
05. Superstar
06. Rocket Ride
07. I Will Follow
08. I Still Believe
09. Masquerade
10. Chasing Time
11. Rain (Bonus Track)
12. Anybody (Bonus Track)
13. On And On (Michael Schenker Group cover) (Bonus Track)
14. I Surrender (Rainbow cover) (Bonus Track)
15. Jane (Jefferson Starship cover) (Bonus Track)
16. Love Is Like Oxygen (Sweet cover) (Bonus Track)


Obrázok Obrázok

Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/

Obrázok



Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
Odkazy na stažení všech alb naleznete pouze na našem blogu zde: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/

Návrat na "NOVINKY 2017 / NEWS 2017"

Kto je prítomný

Užívatelia prezerajúci toto fórum: Žiadny pripojení užívatelia a 18 neregistrovaných