Label: AOR Heaven Records
Release date: October 31, 2020
Production: Rob Moratti
Album length: 50.43 min
Genre: AOR/art rock
Rating: 9.5/10
Rob Moratti is a very well-known name among fans of AOR and good melodic rock, and art rock too, since a taste for “headstrong meandering” within chosen genres is practically a proverbial mantra in the DNA of Canadian musicians. Yep. This is the guy, or let’s just say the vocal marvel, who spent years honing his craft in Final Frontier. They served up a whole series of enviably high-quality releases before vanishing from the scene in the first decade of the new millennium. Why? Because Rob Moratti joined the cult Canadian art rock outfit Saga, with whom he recorded and released the excellent but sadly overlooked album “Human Condition” (2009) and one more live album with the legendary band, “Heads Or Tails Live”. In short: anyone lucky enough to catch Saga with Moratti (with It Bites as the support act) in Wörgl, Austria, in the spring of 2009, because they didn’t play any closer to Slovenia, won’t forget that night as long as they live.
Enough with the introductory romance. After Michael Sadler changed his mind, “came out of retirement” and returned to the Saga vocalist spot, Moratti of course had to breathe his premature “Farewell!”. But he didn’t revive Final Frontier; he decided to focus on recording his solo studio albums instead. And he chose right, because every single one of them shines with flawless quality.
“Paragon” arrives just a year after Rob Moratti released the album “Renaissance” (RockLine review). The key thing here is that it keeps all the creative virtues of its predecessor, and given the short gap between the two albums, that makes up for everything. Moratti also kept the talented guitar wizard Torben Enevoldsen by his side on the new album, and the two clearly click when it comes to songwriting. On bass, one of the most respected players in the business, Tony Franklin, is back, while the drums are again handled by Moratti’s former Final Frontier buddy Stuart Reid. This time around, besides Danc Enevoldsen, a whole garrison of Swedish masters of their craft also helped Moratti with arranging and writing the material, and the twelve songs on the new album are truly fascinatingly fine-tuned down to the smallest details. They are: Ken Sandin (Swedish Erotica, Alien, Da Vinci, Kee Marcelo), Felix Borg (Taste), Pete Alpenborg (Arctic Rain, Sunstorm) and Ulrick Lönnqvist (Code Red, Sahara). “Paragon” continues the musical vision of Moratti’s previous albums. Logically, it sits closest to its predecessor, “Renaissance”.
A little under 51 minutes of top-shelf, first-rate buddying up with the legacy of AOR, wrapped in vibrant, bouncy, dynamic production where the building blocks of the soundscape coexist in a superb arrangement. The guitars grab you from every direction and the sound is pumped. They don’t skimp on the decibels. The solos are brilliant. It’s a pleasure to follow Enevoldsen’s masterpieces. Joel Hoekstra (Whitesnake) and the legendary Ian Crichton (Saga) show up on the album as guest musicians. Moratti is an extremely respected musician. Especially as a vocalist. And speaking of vocals, he’s got an incredibly wide range. He effortlessly “fires on all cylinders” even when he’s hitting the fifth octave. He’s one of those singers who carry vocal power into seriously extreme heights while keeping all the explosiveness of unbelievably clean singing. If you need a hint, it’s no surprise why Moratti recorded a whole album of covers in 2015, dedicated to the AOR giants Journey. So? You know. Tony Harnell (Starbreaker, TNT), the late Tony Mills (Shy, TNT), Kevin Chalfant (The Storm, Steel Breeze), and of course Moratti could just as well sing with Journey any time. That’s why the best musicians find him, or rather seek him out, all on their own. And since Whitesnake got a mention a moment ago, let’s add that all the guitars on Moratti’s 2011 album “Victory” were played by Reb Beach. No joke.
In fact, every song on this album is written for maximum musical payoff. Top-notch chorus hooks that grab you instantly and deliver the atmospheric peaks of the songs. It’s hard to pick highlights, because all twelve tracks are truly polished down to the last hair. One song takes hold of you and the next is already right behind it. Song after song, all the way to the end. In that respect, you can safely conclude that the new album brings an even greater measure of polish and compositional brilliance than its predecessor, released just a year earlier. Especially the middle-eight passages, and some of the connecting bridges too, hint at a cunningly slipped-in art rock premise, surprising you with solutions that AOR predictability doesn’t exactly handle well. But that’s precisely the charm of all of Moratti’s albums, because they rise to this challenge, or rather, pull it off with distinction.
You have to be a true AOR fan for a record like this. From the opener I’m Falling all the way to the superb closer Stay Away, this album will hold you firmly in its grip. There’s even a touch of melancholic longing. All this alongside an otherwise extremely high yield of bombastic pomp that keeps the listener in a haze throughout, in an upbeat, rousing spirit! The production, as I said, is fantastic. Everything on the album simply sounds like a great artistic masterpiece. This isn’t the kind of AOR album you win over right away, precisely because it carries “twists of surprise” in the arrangements and, for that reason, an art rock flavor. You discover it over a long time. That’s exactly the guarantee of its exceptional appeal, since it offers a pile of details that you uncover and slowly unveil. Veil after veil of great artistic excellence.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. I’m Falling (3:51)
2. Rise Above (4:12)
3. What Have We Become (4:07)
4. Remember (4:14)
5. Where Do We Go From Here (4:17)
6. Drifting Away (3:43)
7. Break the Chains (4:07)
8. Alone Anymore (5:08)
9. Bullet Proof Alibi (3:52)
10. All I’m Living For (4:13)
11. Picking Up the Pieces (4:58)
12. Stay Away (3:54)
Lineup:
Rob Moratti – vocals
Torben Enevoldsen – guitar, keyboards
Tony Franklin – bass
Stuart Reid – drums
Guest musicians:
Ian Crichton (Saga) – guitar
Joel Hoekstra (Whitesnake) – guitar
