Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Ten
Label: Rocktopia Records
Release: 2014
Running time: 54;22
Rating: 4/5
The long-lived British veterans of melodic hard rock, Ten, are back on the scene with a new studio effort called “Albion”. The album’s title comes from the oldest officially documented name for the British Isles, going all the way back to the days of Queen Boadicea. The new album “Albion” also sticks to the tradition that made Ten so highly rated and respected among melodic rock fans, delivering a set of tried-and-true, instantly igniting rock anthems with grabby, hooky choruses. So, yet another document of classic Ten rock! It’s another superbly delivered, distinctive blend whose core remains melodic rock loaded with pomp, stretched here and there by touches of neo-classicism, while the arrangements still carry a strong dash of Celtic folk melos. Honestly, there are no comparable bands on the planet in this respect. Maybe, just occasionally, Britain’s Dare, and only in the later period of their career.
The ultimate leader and chieftain of the band, its driving engine and visionary, chief composer and lyricist, vocalist Gary Hughes decided to make a fairly revolutionary move while working on »Albion«: freshening up the sound, and partly the arrangements too. He drafted in no fewer than two additional guitarists. That means Ten now have three guitarists in the lineup. Alongside John Halliwell, the team was joined by Dann Rosingana (Jagged Edge, A2Z, Hysteria, Shellshocked) and Steve Grocott (Sevendayz).
The effect is noticeable across every sphere of the arranging on the new material! First off, what »stabs« your ear is the distinctly hard sound picture, with guitar phrases bursting out more concisely than on previous releases. That way the band moves closer to the feel of its first two studio albums, which it can put to good use at gigs too, when interpreting the older studio material. Hughes has once again shown remarkable inspiration in the compositions. They boast superbly polished lead motifs, written with an eye on squeezing out the maximum musical value. There’s absolutely no shortage of pomp and bombast! On top of the riffs now »biting« much harder in the production, all three guitarists are generously put to work embellishing the lead motifs too, and I can say that the guitar playing hasn’t been this lively and interesting on any of the band’s studio albums in a long time.
The arrangements are once again built so that the band works much like an orchestra. The building blocks of the sound picture show remarkable contrast between keyboards and guitar phrases, as well as the tightness of the rhythm section, which forms a solid framework for the songs. Hughes’ vocals remain one of the core trademarks of the new Ten album too. His passionate yet slightly dark voice is the main creator of the big theatrical drama, which unfolds on the new album as well with all the charm of proud intensity. Ultra-melodic catchiness is by no means lacking on the album, and Hughes pulls off a few truly breathtakingly perfected melodies here too, like the chorus hooks of the opener Alone in the Dark Tonight, then Die For Me in the middle, or the mini-epic suite before it, with its endearing modulations, backed by a programmed sonic loop, called A Smuggler’s Tale. Hughes actually made just one single mistake on the album. For one of the songs he sang the verses in Italian. We usually make fun of Italian English. Well, this time, in the song Gioco’d Amore (translation: Game of Love), we get to make fun of English Italian, which in Hughes’ interpretation is downright dreadful. The song otherwise has an outstanding arrangement, endearing theater, a touch of the classical! It’s a ballad-type number, but one ruined by Hughes’ sloppy handling of the Italian verses. So it’s not enough to simply like the Italian language in music. That doesn’t cut it. You need an ear for it, and you have to place and shape it properly in the meter. Hughes simply made a mistake here that he probably doesn’t even notice himself. Still, the deviation compared to the other tracks is too big for it not to sound jarring when listening to the album as a whole.
»Albion« is otherwise an exceptionally lovely piece of work and a real treat for all the band’s devotees, and it can proudly stand shoulder to shoulder with its older studio siblings, no beating around the bush. The principle and energy of the arranging are carried over from the excellent predecessors »Stormwarning« (2011) and »Heresy And Creed« (2012), with the key difference that the guitars are now pushed further to the front of the sound picture in the production, and individual passages have been beefed up too, with the vividness of the guitar playing from all three guitarists woven very nicely into the compositions. So we’ve got yet another utterly fascinating Ten album! Hughes is apparently in a new creative zenith and reportedly already has material ready for a new studio album, which by the singer’s own words should come out as early as next year. Let’s hope this new renaissance of Ten never fades!
Lineup
Gary Hughes – vocals
Dann Rosingana – guitar
Steve Grocott – guitar
John Halliwell – guitar
Steve Mckenna – bass
Darrel Treece-Birch – keyboards
Max Yates – drums
Production
Gary Hughes
Tracklist
1. Alone In The Dark Tonight
2. Battlefield
3. It’s Alive
4. Albion Born
5. Sometimes Love Takes The Long Way Home
6. A Smuggler’s Tale
7. Die For Me
8. It Ends This Day
9. Gioco D’Amore
10. Wild Horses
