Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Alfonzetti
Label: AOR Heaven Records
Release: 2011
Length: 39:14
Rating: 3.5/5
The name Alfonzetti hides a man called Matti Alfonzetti. “Here Comes The Night” is his third solo studio album, and with it the musician has gone back (sound- and style-wise) to the AOR vocabulary of his 2000 studio debut. Since the name is probably a mystery to most of us, you, and everyone else on Slovenian soil, here’s a quick intro to who Matti Alfonzetti actually is.
Despite the exotic-sounding surname, the guy is a born Swede, who cut his teeth in the eighties as a bassist (and later vocalist) in the Stockholm hard rock outfit Heavy Waters. Later he and guitarist Göran Elmquist founded the rockers Hardware, who soon renamed themselves Scandinavia, and then Bam Bam Boys, and under that name they finally managed to record a self-titled studio debut in 1988, which only came out in 1999. The confirmation that he was on the right path came when Matti’s phone rang and on the other end of the line was none other than Scott Gorham (Thin Lizzy), who was recruiting talented musicians while trying to get the band Western Front off the ground. Matti was picked as lead vocalist on the spot after his audition, but the band never managed to release an album, even though it was fully recorded. The real taste of the amusement park wrapped up in the word “rock” came after he joined the London band Jagged Edge, with whom he recorded the 1990 EP “Trouble” and later the album “Fuel For Soul”. The band also did an exhausting tour of the UK, opening for acts like Dan Reed Network, Vixen and David Lee Roth. After returning to Sweden he first helped out Talisman on vocals, then joined Skintrade and released two albums with them, ‘SkinTrade’ (1993) and ‘Roachpowder’ (1995). Next came membership in the Swedish AOR/pop rock outfit Boxer, with lyrics in Swedish, and a self-titled debut in 1998.
Over all these years of activity, Matti Alfonzetti has grown from a singer into a producer, arranger, composer and multi-instrumentalist, who helped shape the sound of albums by plenty of bands and projects, such as The Poodles and the project Road To Ruin. For his third solo studio album, Matti brought in yet another musically multi-disciplinary “robot”, producer and drummer Daniel Flores (Mind’s Eye), while the crowning guitar solo work on “Here Comes The Night” comes from Marcus Jidell (a defector from Royal Hunt to Evergrey) and Emil Fredholm of the band Plankton. Naturally, the whole thing can hardly go wrong. This is a classically designed eighties AOR album, the fruit of capitalizing on talent, experience, routine and, above all, a finely tuned sense for optimizing the songs so they hit with full force straight from the first listen. As mentioned, the new album is a return to the starting points set by the 2000 debut.
Alfonzetti is an excellent vocalist. His tone combines a high melodic reach built into the song arrangements with a velvety warmth that can bring to mind vocalists like Lou Gramm (ex-Foreigner) or Jeff Scott Soto, flexibly articulated and emotionally colorful. This is the Scandinavian AOR school. Of course there’s quite a bit of sugar on the album, especially when we get to the lyrics, which are chock-full of bleeding hearts and cheap peddling of the pathetic emotions of burnt-out love between two people (if you believe that can still happen spontaneously in 2011 and isn’t the product of premeditated rationalization that sends you the final bill). In short, you have to switch your head off to get through the “abundant whining”, but if you’re already thoroughly thick-skinned in that department, so much the better for you.
The AOR anthemic quality is there in abundance and pulsing at full tilt. Songs like the opener Losing You, the title track Here Comes The Night, I’ll Wait For You, Lay Your Love On Me, and especially the chorus in Heartbreaker, are simply manna for all the loyal, inconsolable AOR faithful. There’s enough variety within the strictly staked-out arrangement template, and “Here Comes The Night” also serves up the effective ballad Set Me Free and the sped-up, wound-tight Rock N’ Roll Heart, and it closes as intensely as it began, with the signature AOR-flavored I Will Never Let You Fall.
It’s definitely worth keeping in mind that this is first and foremost a “cautious” album that doesn’t squeeze out any special note of uniqueness. Instead, it spins tried-and-true in the waters of classic eighties AOR, of course with a polished production seasoning, as dictated by the technological achievements of modern studios. However you turn it, “Here Comes The Night” is a top-quality album from head to toe, and the defenders of AOR law are left with just one thing to do: check this album out and see how it sits under their skin.
Lineup
Matti Alfonzetti – vocals, guitar, bass
Daniel Flores – drums, keyboards
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Marcus Jidell – guitar
Emil Fredholm – guitar
Production
Matti Alfonzetti & Daniel Flores
Tracklist
1. Losing You
2. Here comes the night
3. I’ll wait for you
4. Heartbreaker
5. Don’t listen to your heart
6. Why can´t you love me
7. Lay your love on me
8. Rock n roll heart
9. Set me free
10. I will never let you fall
