Artist: Brock, Terry
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2010
Duration: 50:20
Rating: 5/5
Heh,.. this is unbelievable. Yep. Even in 2010, AOR albums that are the product of absolute perfection are still being made. We’re talking about a true AOR sound, firmly rooted in the eighties, that has reshaped itself and adapted to life in the new millennium in line with new technological know-how and developments in melodic hard rock and AOR. Terry Brock is the singer of the reunited Strangeways (their new album “Perfect World” comes out on Monday, 18.10.2010) and also the new singer of the once-again-kicking melodic rock perfectionists Giant. Last year he sang lead vocals on the fantastic Slamer album “Nowhere Land”, the project of yet another musical genius and wizard, guitarist Mike Slamer. This year Mike Slamer returns the favor to Terry Brock and plays guitar, keyboards and bass for him. The Mike Slamer – Terry Brock combo is clearly a dream team. “Nowhere Land” proved it, and “Diamond Blue” proves it now. They obviously can’t miss — they read each other perfectly and are totally on the same page about how and where to place each note to optimize perfectly shaped melodies. Shamelessly, in a burst of vehemence, they effortlessly whisk the listener off to a world of catchy rock listenability, erotomania and a realm of positive rock vibes. Anyone who follows both musicians also knows the excellent Seventh Key albums “Seventh Key” (2001) and “The Raging Fire” (2004) and their contributions to them.
Diamond Blue is neither a Slamer project nor Seventh Key. It develops its own approach, which is a bit softer, but by no means “poppy”. The album’s production is built so that Terry Brock’s vocals get absolute priority. The vocal is the center of attention, and everything else revolves around it. The guitars cut, yet they’re superbly tuned to build a wall of sound, all while keeping their lively playfulness and decisive dynamics. In the choruses the vocal is harmonized everywhere with layered backing vocals. Anyone who follows the AOR genre knows that crafting ideal vocal harmonies is among the hardest things to pull off. At the same time, it’s the main and fundamental trump card of AOR music, one the masters can always use so well that all you can do is bow deeply and admire the genre’s finest works. And Mike Slamer and Terry Brock know how to do exactly that. So we’re talking about yet another spotless perfection, an example of a release we can call the ideal model of how an authentic AOR album should sound in 2010! “Diamond Blue” has all the answers to your questions! This is an album that stands 100% in terms of composition, production and performance. It proudly rides the saddle of the legacy of the finest works by Dokken, Def Leppard, Rick Springfield, Heart,… Yep. Buckle up, because this is an album that catapults you straight into the point of AOR music.
The material on it doesn’t reinvent the wheel. The approach is tried and true. But it’s created under the jurisdiction of the Brock-Slamer duo, which means it runs in its own AOR “lane”. Brock is proven to be an extremely adaptable and flexible vocalist. Again. He maneuvers emotions like a seasoned tomcat and works with an approach a step ahead of everyone (in terms of surprise). If the opening title track (the pre-chorus is delivered “suspiciously Leppard-like”) is as soft as can be, then already on the next one, the even more soulful It’s You, he adds an occasional juicy pinch of huskiness, thus causing a turnaround and creating a new mood on the album. And we can hardly escape this phenomenon as it goes on. Here’s Jessie’s Gone. A song with one of the most poignant choruses, which will effortlessly conquer every simmering female heart. In the chorus, on the third repetition of the phrase “Jessie’s Gone”, Brock even sings it in a way that recalls Springfield’s famous hit Jessie’s Girl. But nothing more than that. Here’s No More Mr. Nice Guy, which doesn’t hold back from flirting with a classic Rainbow-style approach in the opening, and Brock steps on the gas even harder and squeezes out his best. The song is a dramatic moment of the album, thanks to the design of the basic guitar phrase, which this time is definitely not planting flowers. The album’s first ballad, The Rain, is more a peak of the album than anything else. A textbook example of how to put together a rock ballad so it isn’t saccharine and touches every corner of the heart. The chorus is once again brilliantly set up as far as the perception of the melody goes. Brock kills with his subtlety!
The songs are all seasoned with top-notch Slamer solos! No wonder, right (for those of you who know him)? At the same time, this musician upgrades all the transitional passages with masterful additions of guitar ornaments, which through the prism of the whole reach exceptional compactness and polish. This attribute of the album doesn’t give the listener a moment’s rest and keeps them close the whole way through. This is an album loaded with a highly melo-dramatic atmosphere, which dynamically flows through the nuances of the emotional states created by the individual songs. And every real AOR record needs that!
Broken is another peak of the album. A wrecking-ball chorus drawing the best from AOR evergreens. The song is dark yet melancholically yearning. That’s how it goes when, after floating together in heaven, a girl suddenly hands you the bill and tosses your love aside. An example of ideal combinatorics of composing and captured emotion. Face In The Crowd brings back the vibe of the opening Diamond Blue. Breezy, light and underpinned with the organic sound of an acoustic guitar, it brings rays of warmth back to the album. Why is the point where the album converges with the Slamer project. A bluesy touch cemented with Hammond sound. Brock is once again a vocal chameleon, soulful, subcutaneously seductive and utterly subtle. The album doesn’t let up at a single point. Even the last three tracks, with the exceptional half-ballad Soldier Falls and the closing proper ballad Face In The Night, are a model of extraordinary perfection and of reaching colorful variety of musical expression for the proverbially limited AOR genre (as far as experimental maneuvers go).
An album whose pomp seems to have no end. Nothing to add. An album that should be the model for modern takes on AOR in 2010. A perfect reference in that regard. But even today, the “underground” home of AOR has always turned up some killer record on the scene. It wouldn’t occur to me to bring up the brilliance of Journey’s latest album from 2008 as a comparison, since Journey are too well known, but when mentioning releases by lesser-known AOR acts, such as Alliance and the album “Nowhere Land” in 2008, the Swedish project Work Of Art with the album “Artwork” (2008), or the Christian rockers Mastedon with the album “3” (2009), “Diamond Blue” belongs in that category without reservation, and so we place it in the league of the top AOR albums of the new era. Do yourself a favor. Treat yourself to the best!
Lineup
Terry Brock – vocals, guitar
Mike Slamer – guitar, bass, keyboards
Andy Bigan – drums
Production
Mike Slamer
Track list
1.Diamond Blue
2.It’s You
3.Jessie’s Gone
4.No More Mr. Nice Guy
5.The Rain
6.Broken
7.Face In The Crowd
8.Why
9.Too Young
10.Soldier Falls
11.Face In The Night
