Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Hardline
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2016
Running time: 49:17
Rating: 4/5
Hardline, the legendary melodic rock institution that hit the very top of the then slowly fading AOR scene right between the eyes, is back with its fifth studio album overall, »Human Nature«. Given the year the band was formed and the year the debut came out, Hardline can be counted as a generational offshoot of the crowd of musicians who popularized the AOR genre through the eighties and pretty much patented it. Hardline’s debut »Double Eclipse« is today regarded as the band’s cult classic, one of the most recognizable records that co-define the AOR genre, and last but not least an album that has to have a spot on the shelf of every true fan of melodic rock catchiness.
»Human Nature« comes 25 years after the band’s formation and is only the group’s fifth album, and it has to be stressed in the same breath that, after the excellent predecessor »Danger Zone« (2012), which put Hardline back within expected artistic bounds, it’s a continuation of that same expression. And that’s a good thing, since Johnny Gioeli, the only original (and founding) member of today’s Hardline, has used it merely to confirm the reconnection with the band’s very roots.
In some earlier announcements and official statements from Gioeli, as well as from his main sidekick Alessandro Del Vecchio, who is a big help with arranging the songs and shaping their sonic image, the new album is an attempt to walk the song format of the debut »Double Eclipse« (1991), only with a production that’s supposed to sound modern. »Human Nature« carries a very tightly wound hard rock sound, with riffs raw enough that we can say in capital letters that »Human Nature« is, in one breath, an ultra-melodic, infectious piece of work that also strikes the band’s true pose, with an approach to effective guitar punch that gets magnified in the production (up front in the sound picture) through emphasized, snarling, directly carved riffs.
Josh Ramos (ex-The Storm) has returned to the band for the new album! The Puerto Rican already rejoined the lineup in 2014, when he helped Hardline pull off a show at the first edition of the Frontiers Rock Festival in Trezzo Sull’Adda near Milan. He’s an old acquaintance of Gioeli’s from the recording and live era of the Hardline album »II« (2002). His guitar style is exceptionally polished, layered and chiseled, and when needed it can even evoke the feelings summoned by the subtlety of the famous Neal Schon (Journey), who played guitar on the debut »Double Eclipse«.
Let’s get to the point at last. Apart from entirely superfluous moments like the ballad Take You Home, “Human Nature” works as a whole, once again excellent, and delivers exactly what matters for the band right now. It’s an album of a calling card that follows its predecessor »Danger Zone« and, as a result, sensibly keeps the connection to the debut studio album. The songs are formatted for catchy melody, with the peaks of their moods caught in chorus hooks that directly invite the listener to join in. The Gioeli-Del Vecchio duo is also seasoned and incredibly experienced, so there was no way they’d commit a sonic blunder, let alone an arrangement one. Gioeli once again handles vocal duties with passion and plenty of heart. His voice thickens with the years and grows ever more noble in expression, and at the same time the charismatic singer, even in his mature years, very successfully keeps going toe to toe with the high-to-highest vocal lines. So the mission has been accomplished in full for the revamped Hardline. Let’s hope the band puts together a list of new live dates that will bring it to stages as close to Slovenia as possible.
Hardline – Where Will We Go From Here (official video):
Lineup
Johnny Gioeli – vocals
Alessandro Del Vecchio – keyboards
Josh Ramos – guitar
Anna Portalupi – bass
Francesco Jovino – drums
Production
Alessandro Del Vecchio
Tracklist
1. Where Will We Go From Here
2. Nobody’s Fool
3. Human Nature
4. Trapped In Muddy Waters
5. Running On Empty
6. The World Is Falling Down
7. Take You Home
8. Where The North Wind Blows
9. In The Dead Of The Night
10. United We Stand
11. Fighting The Battle
