Artist: Bormann, Michael
Label: AOR Heaven Records
Release: 2008
Rating: 3.5/5
Michael Borman, the German multi-instrumentalist, has been in full bloom ever since he left his home band Jaded Heart. His second studio album “Conspiracy” (2006) came out two years ago, and in the meantime the guy has lent his vocals to releases by Bloodbound and Rain, and you can also hear him on albums by Redrum, Charade and Zeno. In short, this is a dude who doesn’t know the meaning of the word downtime.
His new studio album “Capture the Moment” is the logical next step in this musician’s artistic development. Of course, Bormann isn’t creating a fifth dimension with the new record when it comes to creative innovation. Hard rock is hard rock. Sung out. This way or that. Still, it does a great job of making up for predictability and cookie-cutter molds with the right studio polish and a knack for building production-boosted, irresistibly seductive riffs that make listeners fall in love at first listen.
Michael Bormann is one of those lucky guys who got the “one man band” talent laid in their cradle. He writes the songs himself and plays them himself, too. At least the basic skeletal form, which the rest of the specialists (Tommy Denander, etc…) then spruce up with their additions as guest members of Bormann’s studio crew.
Above all of this, though, Bormann is a singer. And a great one, born for melodic hard rock, with a raspy common denominator of the vocals and vocal styles of Steve Lee (Gotthard), Jon Bon Jovi (Bon Jovi), Joe Lynn Turner (ex Rainbow), David Coverdale (Whitesnake) and Bryan Adams. That voice is sensual, subtle, hot and above all feels velvety overall, with a touch of eros, and it’s the guarantee that breathes life into the compositions and riffs.
When Push Comes To Shove confirms Bormann’s love for the rock n’ roll classics of Rainbow, especially that famous Stargazer guitar phrase. A touch of that legendary band and a touch of Whitesnake run through the whole album. In a “modern” outfit of melodic hard rock, the songs come alive especially in the polished choruses, which are the high points of every track, with skillfully added vocal harmonies and a wrap of keyboards that keep the drama, longing and melancholy at a high level throughout the album. Thematically varied and convincingly produced in the studio, the album proves that Bormann is by no means running out of creative inspiration, wit and insight. The album keeps the hard rock dynamics high through Friends For A Lifetime and Come Take Me Higher, thanks to the melodic, arena-ready allure of the choruses, in which Bormann quickly shows off his exceptional singing skills. Live Your Life suspiciously echoes Beat It (Michael Jackson) in its basic guitar phrase, but once again it’s the chorus that successfully rescues the whole thing from going watery. Strutting around in its rocker high heels, the album never wavers in quality, it’s hard to pick out highlights, and everyone can name their own this time around. Songs like For Just A Little While, Half Way Down and Glory And Pain, with slight pop touches in the pre-choruses and AOR explosions in the choruses, are great examples of tracks that could have gotten heavy radio rotation (in the eighties, of course).
The man has of course included a hefty bunch of ballads, of which I Wanna Hear Your Voice stands out in terms of quality, while the cover of the Jaded Heart song Love Is Magic (from the album “Trust”, 2004) feels a bit too forced with its sweetness. There’s also Still Haven’t Found It among the ballads, a more or less failed attempt at re-creating the Whitesnake hit Is This Love. Sadly, one of these ballads (Go Going Home) closes the album, and right at the end the album loses a chunk of rock dynamite and with it some of the interest.
“Capture The Moment” is a typical example of German melodic hard rock that likes to flirt with elements of AOR rock. The production is a touch sharper and more pronounced in the guitar riffs, so very lively, with the vocals dominant at the absolute center and built on a solid grip of the rhythm itself. “Capture The Moment” is a sturdy representative of the genre, stiffly following tradition, but Bormann, as a master, successfully defies all of that with a one-of-a-kind vocal approach, a convincing song structure and production, and so, all things added up, delivers a brilliant new album in the field of melodic hard rock. For all fans of Fair Warning, Gotthard, Frontline, Jaded Heart (and of course more).
Lineup
Michael Bormann – vocals, backing vocals, drums, bass guitar, guitar, keyboards
Andreas “Rippel” Rippelmeier – guitar
Chris Ivo – keyboards
Eric Ragno – keyboards
Niklas Olssen – keyboards
Marco Grasshoff – keyboards
Sabine Edelsbacher (EDENBRIDGE)- backing vocals on track no. 9
Sonja Rippelmeier – vocal duet on track no. 10
Tommy Denander – additional guitars, keyboards and bass guitar
Lanvall(EDENBRIDGE) – additional guitar solos
Bobby Stöcker – additional guitar solos
Guido Gallus – additional drums
Production
Michael Bormann
Tracklist
1. When Push Comes To Shove
2. Friends For A Lifetime
3. Come Take Me Higher
4. Live Your Life
5. I Wanna Hear Your Voice
6. Half Way Down
7. I Will Hold The Line
8. Love Is Magic
9. Glory And Pain
10. Don’t Bother Me
11. Doing Or Not
12. Still Haven’t Found It
13. For Just A Little While
14. Go Going Gone
Album length: 61.38
