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Deacon Street - II

Stan Bush – Vocals Peter Sundell – Vocals Thomas Vikstrom – Vocals

Johan Fahlberg – Vocals Chris Antblad – Vocals Geir Rφnning – Vocals Andreas Novak - Vocals

Reb Beach – Guitars Steve Morse – Guitars

Jeff Watson - Guitars Christopher Cross – Guitars

Marty Friedman – Guitars Bobby Messano – Guitars Tommy Denander – Guitars

Bill Leverty – Guitars Bruce Gaitsch - Guitars

Al V. Dohn - Bass

Tony Franklin - Bass

Tommy Denander is a pure melodic rock genius; he knows how to really express a song the way it is supposed to be expressed; for which there is something about the second installment of his Deacon Street project that invokes that expression through his penmanship, arrangements, production, as well as having the knack for putting an all star cast of musicians together to bring even more personality to the album. ***

Featuring Stan Bush, Marty Friedman, Reb Beach, Steve Morse, Tony Franklin, Thomas Vikstrφm, and Johan Fahlberg among many others, 'II' is strong plethora of pop tinged melodic hard rock/AOR, in the vein of Harem Scarem, Drive She Said, FM, and Giant, with plenty of hooks and riffs that are at par for the catchiness factor. Tracks such as "Beautiful Chardaine," "Now We Cry For You," "Leann," and the backseat ballad "The Promise of Forever" are the strongholds for pop mastery, with a high theme of 'love' sung throughout. But the pop sensibility meets a higher 'rock' factor on cuts such as "When Love is on the Line," "(Kill Us) on Another Day," "Misery," and the Kiss cover of "Easy as it Seems;" which might seem like an odd choice (being that it is from the often misunderstood 'Unmasked' record), but it's actually heavier than the original, so go figure. ***

Even when the record goes along a more pop route, there still is a lot of axe attack that cuts through the atmosphere with blistering solos that keep a metallic edge to the record at all times. Production wise, 'II' is very punchy with layered instrumentation, keyboards, clean and crunched guitars; basically keeping the record highly diverse, adhering to the style of music that each song invokes. Nevertheless, the sophomore effort from Denander's Deacon Street Project, does not hit the sophomore slump.