Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Ten
Label: Rocktopia Records
Release: 2015
Rating: 4/5
Ten, the long-lived British melodic rockers who have been holding their ground on the scene since 1995, marked their twentieth anniversary last year by releasing their twelfth studio album overall, titled »Isla De Muerta«.
The band, steered and driven all along by its main engine, frontman, vocalist, lyricist, producer and chief composer Gary Hughes, has been running as a seven-piece since the »Albion« album. That means no fewer than three guitars in the lineup.
So »Albion« already brought a noticeable rebirth of the sound, with Ten looking straight back to their beginnings and their first studio album »X« (1996), and tugging at the heartstrings of every nostalgic who remembers both the debut and its cult successor »The Name of the Rose« (1996). The band backed up the creative spark with arrangements, giving all the guitars a serious boost in dynamic playing. That showed most of all in the beefier production, the extra shake-up of the »mid-eight« passages, and the dressing up of the transitional parts with triad harmonies.
»Isla De Muerta« continues that story. Once again Hughes and company have turned out a release at lightning speed, following hot on the heels of »Albion«, and the man clearly isn’t short of freshly minted ideas. Riding a new wave of creative drive, the band recently set up its own label, taking everything firmly into its own hands. That brings extra ease and freedom from pressure into the camp, which is the prerequisite for the good mood that underpins the making of quality original material. As the album’s title already tells you, the lyrics touch on the pirate legend of the »island of death«, and the band keeps up the pompous, kitschy flair that Ten have been bombarding their melodic rock character with for years, partly thanks to the excellent artist Gaetano Di Falco, who once again created the cover for this album. The cover is stylistically reminiscent of the illustrations of the famous Hal Foster. The band went for an seriously ambitious rollout of the new album, releasing two singles to promote it, for the songs Tell Me What To Do and This Love. Even though the new album takes us to the Caribbean, the lyrics of The Dragon And Saint George (the tale of how Saint John defeats the dragon and saves the city of Silene) and Revolution (inspired by the French Revolution) steer away from that theme.
»isla De Muerta« cements the sonic character of the new Ten, keeping up and building on the vibe of its predecessor »Albion«, while thankfully not having the »stray shot« Hughes allowed himself on the last album, when he tried his hand at belting out songs in Italian. That makes it a more coherent piece of work than its predecessor. Style-wise, as expected, Ten don’t surprise by an inch with the new album. They stick to their tried-and-tested recipe, which has proven to light up the band’s fans for years, led by Hughes’ distinctive nasal, mid-range vocals, which are nonetheless colorful enough to bring a touch of mystique and darkness into the band’s musical character.
Ten – The Last Pretender:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX2vDLs664A
Lineup
Gary Hughes – vocals
Dann Rosingana – guitar
Steve Grocott – guitar
John Halliwell – guitar
Steve Mckenna – bass guitar
Darrel Treece-Birch – keyboards
Max Yates – drums
Production
Gary Hughes
Tracklist
1. Buccaneers (Instrumental) / Dead Men Tell No Tales (6:27)
2. Tell Me What To Do (4:15)
3. Acquiesce (4:45)
4. This Love (4:42)
5. The Dragon And Saint George (5:16)
6. Intensify (6:39)
7. Karnak (Instrumental) / The Valley Of The Kings (8:10)
8. Revolution (5:56)
9. Angel Of Darkness (3:57)
The Last Pretender (6:40)
We Can Be As One (3:28) (bonus track for the European market)
