Label: Frontiers Music Srl.
Release date: 11.10.2019
Production: Michael Sweet
Album length: 49.40 min
Genre: Hard Rock / Heavy Metal
Rating: 9.5 / 10
Michael Sweet is the frontman of the legendary white metal heroes Stryper. He’s an enormously talented songwriter who never stops being creative, and if there’s no new Stryper album on the horizon, a new Michael solo record pops up instead. Last October his latest solo effort came out, fittingly titled “Ten.” Ten also because the title track is tied to the Ten Commandments. True to his tradition as a poet, Michael simply can’t shake the devotion to worship that, after all, flung the doors wide open for Stryper’s commercial success and breakthrough back in the eighties.
What Sweet has pulled off on Ten is once again unbelievable. Downright fascinating, really. He remains an inexhaustible songwriter who just never, ever runs out of inspiration. Considering how frequent the releases are where he’s the main and majority author, that’s all the more fascinating. Practically bordering on the unbelievable. Like I said. Unbelievable.
Now, Michael originally wanted to record the album with just a few collaborators in the studio, but then he changed his mind and started inviting special guests to contribute on individual tracks. The response was incredible, and a whole bunch of eminent guests simply stepped into the creative process behind this record on their own and chipped in with extra constructive ideas. In short, the vibe surrounding the making of this album was very upbeat and positive.
Compared to his past work, meaning his solo studio releases, “Ten” has a harder edge and looks more firmly toward the legacy of heavy metal and hard rock. The opener Better Part Of Me, the dark title track in the middle, and the excellent closer Son Of Man, interestingly labeled a bonus track and featuring Queensryche singer Todd La Torre in a vocal duet, all owe their inspiration to the classic days of heavy metal. Then there’s the really good ballad Let It Be Love, which only confirms Michael Sweet’s exceptional songwriting chops. Ballads are a double-edged sword, but not when Michael takes them on. It’s one of the songwriting highlights of the album. Sweet thought of everything again. He dressed the songs up with dramatic harmonizing of the lead melodies, the choruses are insanely catchy and grab you instantly, so they’ve got a dose of that essential AOR charisma, the contagious kind that Sweet has been flirting with “underground” throughout his rich musical career. Once again he delivers a vocal performance that “kills.” Sweet’s charismatic and instantly recognizable voice is still very well preserved for his mature years and dominant all the way through. Highly explosive. He glides with feather-light ease from the mids to the highs and the very highest registers. “Ten” delivers a huge amount of musical substance across twelve tracks, and interestingly so. It does that within a firmly staked-out recipe of songwriting, where nobody is out to discover a musical revolution. When Love Is Hatred owes the idea for its guitar phrase in the verse to inspiration from the legendary Led Zeppelin. To the average rocker’s ear, that’s more than obvious.
When it comes to Michael Sweet, the many guest spots aren’t obligatory. He’s simply so accomplished, refined and just plain good a songwriter, arranger, vocalist and, in the end, guitarist that he can always put a good record together with just the core crew in the studio (a bassist, a drummer, a good lead guitarist). This time, though, the numerous guest appearances by eminent guests, big names in metal and hard rock, especially among guitarists, definitely add value to this album, breathing a distinctive stamp into every track. Even a distinctive sonic character, and Sweet’s exceptionally melodic, clean, dominant vocals simply work full-bloodedly in every one of these twelve musical stories. The album grabs you right away. Fans of musical invasiveness, you’ll instantly find a close friend in this album, especially when Sweet addresses you with the chorus of the opener Better Part Of Me (the brilliant Jeff Loomis of Nevermore and Arch Enemy guests on guitar in this track). The follow-up to the album ”One Sided War” features a whole heap of eminences from the music world, namely: the aforementioned Jeff Loomis (Arch Enemy), plus Todd La Torre (vocals, Queensryche), Andy James, Tracii Guns (L.A. Guns), Rich Ward (Fozzy), Joel Hoekstra (Whitesnake), Gus G. (Firewind), Howie Simon, Ethan Brosh, Marzi Montazeri (Exhorder), Will Hunt (drums, Evanescence), John O’Boyle (bass guitar), Mike Kerr, Ian Raposa (Firstbourne)
So, an exceptionally good trick that Michael Sweet pulled off. Compared to his two previous solo studio albums, the new one, “Ten,” is closer in musical identity and production to what Sweet does with Stryper, though it’s a fully self-contained story and a fresh step forward on the colorful musical journey of this, and let’s not be modest here, brilliant musician! Fans will be more than thrilled, and for everyone else the new album can serve as a little school in writing fiery hard rock and heavy metal marches that carry the concise character of AOR pomp, a.k.a. bombast!
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
01. Better Part Of Me (Jeff Loomis)
02. Lay It Down (Marzi Montazeri)
03. Forget, Forgive (Howie Simon)
04. Now Or Never (Gus G.)
05. Ten (Rich Ward)
06. Shine (Ethan Brosh)
07. Let It Be Love
08. Never Alone ( Joel Hoekstra)
09. When Love Is Hated (Joel Hoekstra)
10. Ricochet (Tracii Guns)
Bonus tracks:
11. With You Till The End (Mike Kerr & Ian Raposa)
12. Son Of Man (Todd La Torre & Andy James)
Line-up:
Michael Sweet – vocals, guitar
John O’Boyle – bass guitar
Will Hunt (Evanescence) – drums
