Formed back in 2009, British rockers Vega was hailed as the great new hope for the Melodic Rock/AOR genre when the released their debut album Kiss Of Life in 2010 and the band’s popularity increased by each record. I discovered the band with their fourth album Who We Are (2016) and became a fan immediately. But something has happened in later years. Or hasn’t happened might be a better choice of words. Because despite releasing solid efforts one after another it seems that the band has taken a halt when it comes to getting bigger – their popularity curve is treading water and remains pretty much on the same level as it was five or six years ago. Why that is is beyond me as judging by the quality of their music they should be bigger. That said, they do sport a rather large following.
Category Melodic Rock
Skagarack – Heart and Soul
Formed by guitarist/lead singer/song writer Torben Schmidt, Skagarack became a bit of a name in AOR circles in Scandinavia and the debut – a good album that came with some minor flaws – did pretty good but it was with their sophomore album Hungry For A Game two years later where the band hit their peak. Said album knocked me for six and I was sure it’d take them right to the top. It didn’t. When the slightly heavier follow-up A Slice Of Heaven (1989) more or less bombed the band disbanded and Schmidt tried on a solo career that didn’t set the world on fire either. The band gave it one more shot in 1993 with the underwhelming album Big Time but it was 1993 after all so it didn’t do anything and the band split again. Back in 2020 the band got some offers to reunite for some gigs and so they did and the next step was of course a new album and now the first Skagarack album in 20 years is here.
Degreed – Public Address
Ever since 2015 when Degreed released their third album Dead But Not Forgotten the band has kept on releasing solid albums one after the other, this new album being their seventh since the debut in 2011. Speaking of the debut, I must admit that I don’t find the two first albums Life, Love, Loss and We Don’t Belong (2013) all that strong. Not bad albums at all but the difference between those albums quality wise and the following records are almost miles apart. The band’s take on AOR with heavier ingredients, yes even Metal at times, is today of impressively high quality and I can’t help but to feel that Degreed deserves to be way bigger than they are. If only fans of the melodic Hard Rock genre would take some time and just check the band out.
Tony Mitchell – Radio Heartbeat
Here it is, the third full-length album from British singer/guitarist/song-writer Tony Mitchell since 2020 – and his fourth solo record over-all. Mitchell recorded one album by his first band Kiss Of The Gypsy back in 1991 but it didn’t do all that much and the band split up in 1993. Since then Mitchell has released records with bands like Kingdom Of The Dead, Boneyard Zombies and Dirty White Boyz before settling for a solo career. Not being the most well-known artist in the world, Mitchell’s solo records (and band albums) has all been stellar efforts, especially Church Of A Restless Soul (2020) and Hot Endless Summer Nights (2022), albums that threw a fine mix of Hard Rock, AOR, Metal and Classic Rock our way which means that high hopes follows when it’s time for his latest release.
Gardner-James – No Strings
After two solo records – the self-titled debut from 2017 and Your Place In The Sun (2019) – that ran parallel with her job as the lead singer of Vixen, Janet Gardner decided to leave the band in 2019. She was replaced by former Femme Fatale vocalist Lorraine Lewis. When the next record was released – Synergy (2020) – it was released as a duo under the Gardner-James moniker but truth be told, Gardner’s solo albums could/should have been duo-albums as her hubby Justin James’ input equalled Gardner’s. Both he and Janet are also featured on the covers. Well, the promotion for her records seems somewhat underwhelming as I didn’t even know of the second solo album and the debut Gardner-James one. What I do know is that Gardner’s debut solo album was a good one and she’s always been a really good singer so the promo I got for this one was more than welcome.
Art Nation – Inception
Since 2015 Swedish melodic hard rockers Art Nation has been on a roll releasing three albums and playing as much as they possibly could. With each album the band has gotten slightly bigger although not by much – which is unfair. This is a band that still dwells in the shadows of bands like H.E.A.T, Crazy Lixx and Dynazty despite making damn good records that surely equals the quality of most modern melodic Hard Rock groups. Add damn good musicians and a stellar voice in Alexander Strandell, also the singer of Crowne. It was now four years since the last album, the killer Transition, came out and with their fourth record out is about damn time rock-fans started to notice this lot. They sure do deserve it.
Revolution Saints – Eagle Flight
It was supposed to be one album. Correction: It was supposed to be a Deen Castronovo (Journey, Bad English, Hardline, The Dead Daisies) solo album. But when bassist Jack Blades (Night Ranger, Damn Yankees) and guitarist Doug Aldrich (Lion, Whitesnake, Dio, The Dead Daisies) joined it was decided it would be a band-project. When the self-titled debut, released in 2015, became a success they guys were talked into following it up and they did that twice. With both Blades and Aldrich on tight schedules both declined doing a fourth but the Frontiers label wanted at least one more so instead of doing said Castronovo solo album, guitarist Joel Hoeckstra (Whitesnake, Night Ranger, Trans Siberian Orchestra) and bassist Jeff Pilson (Foreigner, Dokken, The End Machine, Black Swan) were asked to participate and both gave it their thumbs up. If this is a one-off with this line-up remains to be seen.
Demons Down – I Stand
Here’s another “all-star” project from the Frontiers label. But there are projects and there are projects and some feels more interesting than others. Like projects with a theme or a certain reference, for example. Archon Angel, to name one, was supposed to be a link to the Zak Stevens fronted Savatage. Musically there were flirts with Savatage’s music and they brought in Stevens as the voice for the project. Here’s another one – this one has a clear House Of Lords reference where both the band’s name and some of the members are related to House Of Lords. According to the press-release it’s musically related too – especially the early days of the band.
First Signal – Face Your Fears
As a fan of Canadian melodic Hard Rock band Harem Scarem I was quite intrigued when Frontiers Records revealed that they would release a new project that would feature Harem Scarem singer Harry Hess back in 2010. Back then the Frontiers all-star albums didn’t come thirteen a dozen and many of them were both exciting, fun and last but not least really good. The project took the name First Signal and the self-titled debut was a phenomenal Melodic Rock album, an album I still listen to a lot. It was a success so a follow-up was a must and One Step Over The Line came out six years later and was almost as awesome. Hess sure put his stamp on those albums even though he wasn’t involved in the song-writing.
Midnite City – In at the Deep End
“To me, this is an ok album that I doubt I’ll be playing much in the future. But the potential is there for future releases.” That was last two sentences in my review for British glamsters Midnite City’s second album There Goes The Neighbourhood from 2018. The first sentence still stands. I haven’t given the album all that many listens since it came out. I haven’t given their 2017 self-titled debut any thought at all since it came out. Fact is, I didn’t even realize until now that the band has released two more albums – Open Invite (2019) and Itch You Can’t Scratch (2021). If the last sentence still stands remains to be seen. It’s not that I dislike the band but the music just didn’t have the IT I’m looking for. Too middle of the road, too bland, not much of an identity and the production felt budget. So why even bother with album # 3 then? Well, as I wrote, the potential is there and I just don’t give up on potential. Besides, three time’s a charm, right?
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