Artist: Danger Danger
Label: Frontiers Records
Released: 2009
Running time: 50.41
Rating: 5/5
Good morning, Danger Danger. I’ve nearly taken root in the ground from this terrible wait for your new studio album! A whole 9 years have passed since Danger Danger’s last real studio release, the phenomenal “Return Of The Great Gildersleeves” from 2000. Well, how does that tale of our valiant forefathers go? Beyond nine mountains, beyond nine rivers,… lie nine long years of waiting for the new Danger Danger album. Was it worth the wait? Ohoho! Still doubting?
Two key moments for the band need to be pointed out over the last 9 years. The first is the arrival of one-of-a-kind guitar virtuoso and fast-fingered shredder Rob Marcello, who already introduced himself on an official Danger Danger release in 2005, as part of the lineup that recorded the live album “Live & Nude”. The second big thing that has marked Danger Danger lately is the return of Ted Poley to the band. Yes, Ted Poley is the guy who recorded the first two studio albums with the band, plus “Cockroach”, which was supposed to come out third, but things got so tangled for the band back then that it’s a story we’d better save for another occasion.
Paul Laine or Ted Poley? It doesn’t really matter. Both singers are excellent. There are only nuances between them, but you can still feel them clearly in the character of the Danger Danger albums. Paul Laine is pitched slightly lower and is stronger in the midrange, where he also makes the most effective use of a raspy daring, making him a touch more of a “rough” singer than Ted Poley, and he also brings a pulse of obscurity to Danger Danger. Ted Poley, on the other hand, brings a touch more melody and a cleaner vocal, aimed at building power more effectively in the higher register, with the obligatory slightly raspy edge (at the very top it recalls the energy of Bryan Adams), which works a lot better in, say, the AOR genre than Paul Laine’s voice does. On the new album Poley has brought back that true rowdy, debauched, vain “party time” feeling of the first two Danger Danger albums, where the occasional “Leppard-style” “Oh-oh-oh” chants in the choruses once again work a treat. At the same time, on “Revolve” the band keeps the more modern sound production (crystal clear, yet with a live punch), which picks up right where “Return Of The Great Gildersleeves” left off.
Rob Marcello is a huge gain for the band. Bruno Ravel can finally devote himself solely to playing bass and handling production duties. Marcello is a fantastic guitarist. Hellishly fast, yet with exceptional control over the notes he plays, he carries real adrenaline in his fingers, and his playing is dynamic throughout, full of sparkle and wit, with touches of that masterful seasoning of hanging off the tremolo or potent string bends. Marcello of course brings in the energy of the album by the project of Rob Marcello and Frank Vestry (vocals), “Marcelo – Vestry”, from 2008 – RockLine review HERE. Marcello fit into Danger Danger perfectly, and Ravel trusts him 100%, since he didn’t even touch a guitar on the new album!
And the material? Excellent in every respect. The peaks in every single song are the hair-splittingly polished choruses, in the sense of chasing melodic perfection in how the lead motifs are showcased. Danger Danger simply equip them with a catchy hard rock riff and multi-part vocal harmonies surrounding Poley’s centrally placed vocal. These harmonies, stacked from multiple voices, create an atmosphere as if you were in a stadium or an arena, with the whole crowd pulsing as one with the band on stage. Gripping! That’s that mild “Leppard-style” pulse that’s as hard to find on new bands’ albums as a needle in a haystack. If it hasn’t already won you over, the song F.U.$ will! You simply can’t miss Def Leppard, if not earlier on the album, then definitely in this song.
The songs practically compete with each other over which will seize the top spot or the attention on the album. Starting with the first peak, presented by That’s What I Am Talking About! It carries one of the most under-the-skin catchy lead melodies in a chorus on the album. Matching it step for step is Hearts On A Highway at position no. 4, which could just as easily have been the album opener. In short, different strokes for different folks. The songs are optimally dressed and fitted out with a great deal of perfection, and it’s not hard to feel that the band members’ hearts are tuned to the same frequency and beat for the same cause. That’s why “Revolve” is also incredibly convincing in all the basic attributes of melodic hard rock that we demand, so that we can slap the adjective “top-notch” on the album without mincing words!
Since I already mentioned that Poley would work great in a pure AOR outfit, know that the chorus of Killin’ Love will literally kill you because of it. Danger Danger are here on the album as if they knew exactly what it takes to make the hair on a listener’s skin stand on end: knead in the signature touch of keyboards. These are the biggest culprit for this Danger Danger-style AOR moment of the album, which is a chapter of its own and at the same time another peak on “Revolve”. Also follow the dramatic ending of this song, amid the stark contrast of a masterful studio production trick created by the keyboards and a cannon-like snare drum.
“Revolve” is an album in which you effortlessly feel an energy that’s unspoiled and blasts you straight back to the band’s studio debut, knocking 20 years off them with ease as it carries you off into the past. And yet at the same time it has outstanding maturity, more control, an even clearer focus and a convincing realization of only what experience brings. We can thank the long 9-year break, during which the album took shape, for the fact that it keeps up the level of the best Danger Danger can possibly put out. Also worth highlighting in the album’s favor are the fascinating ballads Never Give Up and Fugitive, which once again show that the strongest bands are the ones who manage to win the listener over with a ballad. And it has to be dramatic enough to cover up the (for the hard rock principle) obligatory dose of pathos, which Danger Danger surpass with ease. The album closes in full flowing dynamics and on a new atmospheric peak, with yet another pompous rocker captured in Dirty Mind. It’s typical Danger Danger classic, with riff energy front and center and a naughty lyric, just as it should be!
“Revolve” will be a treat for real Danger Danger fans, as well as for everyone who gets fired up by melodic hard rock. A must-buy in that case. You’ll devour it in one go, it combines so well the elements of arena-sized atmospheric pomp and rock riff adrenaline rush, showcases the band’s traditional innate sense for forging perfect, compact lead melodies, and with Poley brings a gentle breeze of AOR polish, tied to the energy, vocal color and singing approach of this excellent singer. So, enough babbling! Danger Danger have put out another album that offers everything a true fan of this band can only dream of. And this time the dream is reality. Let’s hope Danger Danger keep up their high creative gallop and delight us with the follow-up to “Revolve” sooner than in 9 years. “Revolve” is one of the main contenders for album of 2009 among releases that fall into the melodic hard rock genre!
Lineup
Ted Poley – vocals
Rob Marcello – guitar
Bruno Ravel – bass, keyboards
Steve West – drums
Production
Bruno Ravel
Track list
1. That’s What I’m Talking About
2. Ghost Of Love
3. Killin’ Love
4. Hearts On The Highway
5. Fugitive
6. Keep On Keepin’ On
7. Rocket To Your Heart
8. FU$
9. Beautiful Regret
10. Never Give Up
11. Dirty Mind
