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Review:
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The idea for a union between ex Helloween frontman
Michael Kiske and Amanda Somerville came from Frontiers
head honcho Serafino Perugino. Amanda is well known for
her work with Epica, Aina and many other projects, including
her own pop/rock solo career. The songs have been mainly
written by the team of bassist Mat Sinner (Sinner, Primal
Fear) and guitarist Magnus Karlsson (Starbreaker, Primal
Fear), with former After Forever guitarist Sander Gommans
and Amanda contributing a further three. Kiske is of course
famous as a screamer, but here he tones it down, and the
voices are well matched and complimentary. Most of the songs
are top quality, guitar led, catchy, melodic rock/metal
tunes with big choruses, ‘If I Had a Wish’ and ‘Don’t Walk
Away’ being perfect examples. It is great to hear Amanda
given something meaty to sing, but Kiske often takes the
lead. The orchestral ‘Silence’ and ‘Arise’, and the metal
‘A Thousand Suns’ and bonus track ‘Set A Fire’, the latter
three all Gommans/Somerville compositions, are more impressive
to my ears, with greater parity between the singers, these
are the songs where the duets really work to their best
advantage. As you might expect, this is all most professionally
done and very commercial and accessible, but I personally
would have liked more Gommans/Somerville compositions. The
package includes two videos for ‘Silence’ and ‘If I Had
a Wish’. The album with be out shortly on Frontiers records
from all your favourite purveyors on the 24th Sept, a highly
harmonious 8.5 out of 10.
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