Artist: Place Vendome
Label: Frontiers Records
Released: 2005
Rating: 3.5/5
Those of you who are inconsolable and miss good old Helloween screamer Michael Kiske, heh, heh,…. The guy is here! Just like a curse! While Deris, who crawled out of his home band Pink Cream 69 to join Helloween and replace the runaway Kiske, Kiske now teams up with the members of Pink Cream 69 in a new twist on the Place Vendome project. Funny how fate plays tricks on us sometimes, huh? The lineup is rounded out by top-notch keyboardist Günther Werno, who otherwise tickles the ivories in German prog metal heavyweights Vanden Plas.
Place Vendome are excellent AOR melodic hard rock! Apparently the mountain eagle is a thing for the Germans, with a totally unimpressive, uninspired album cover, yet incredibly inspiring otherwise. The style is early “eighties”, of course, but the production of their “rompompom” (studio sound) is raw and alive. So, German. You can’t miss it. The music is full of artfully crafted, catchy songs with big melodies that get under your skin fast. Kiske’s excellent voice has finally, and I mean really finally, found its way back to where it belongs. Punchy, “clean” vocals with a phenomenal range, in every single bar first of all instantly recognizable and second consistently, firmly powerful, work best in a genre like this. AOR melodic hard rock needs a singer who pours a full 100% of melody into the music. That’s Michael. And then you just add a colorful palette of “backing vocal” lines in the right spots and that’s it! Goosebumps, despite the minimalism of the choruses, are definitely guaranteed (a nice example of this is also the latest Phenomena album “Psycho Fantasy”). I’ll Be Waiting, Magic Carpet Ride and The Setting Sun are some of the most beautiful pieces of the lot.
As always in cases like this, it has to be stressed once more that the interplay between the musicians is fantastic and the chemistry is impressive. The rhythm section is tight and punchy, the guitar riffs simple, open, no overcomplicating, the solos pour grandly into them, playing with full adrenaline in the veins, while Werno adds that proper symphonic touch to the band with his keyboards, giving the sound that real “rock” breadth. Place Vendome are all about experience! And with it come the courage and determination in the playing, which is really not hard to feel on this record. The album’s dynamics never sag, and it ends on a high with the classic AOR beauty Sign Of The Times, where Kiske shines across the board.
So, fans of Journey and Foreigner. You can be really happy you’ve got something close to those two bands in a German version. Don’t worry. Place Vendome with Kiske, who hasn’t lost a speck of his former vocal greatness, are the real deal. Now jump in the car, floor it, buckle up your “babe” and “put the pedal to the metal” toward an excellent AOR “rally”!!!
Lineup
Michael Kiske – vocals
Uwe Reitenauer – guitar
Günther Werno – keyboards
Dennis Ward – bass
Kosta Zafiriou – drums
Production
Dennis Ward
Tracklist
01. Cross The Line
02. I Will Be Waiting
03. Too Late
04. I Will Be Gone
05. The Setting Sun
06. Place Vendome
07. Heavens Door
08. Right Here
09. Magic Carpet Ride
10. Sign Of The Times
Album length: 46:08
