Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Ozone
Label: Escape Music
Release: 2015
Running time: 51:07
Rating: 4/5
In the second half of this year, yet another album hits the scene that can be filed among the typical representatives of the British (island) school of melodic rock. Behind the name Ozone and the album »Self Defence« stands a seasoned master of music, producer and arranger! The excellent guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Slamer!
He brought in two singers who are the »heavy hitters« of the British melodic rock scene. The first name is Steve Overland, who released his first album in 1980 with Wildlife, and after that band broke up founded the cult British melodic rock leaders FM, with whom he racked up enviable commercial success throughout the eighties. The band has kept putting out new studio albums over the years, the latest of them titled “Heroes And Villains” (RockLine review HERE!) just this year! Overland has also lent his vocals to The Ladder and Shadowman, and between 2008 and 2014 he released three excellent solo studio albums too! The second name is Chris Ousey, who has sung in Monroe, Virginia Wolf and Heartland, recently released his solo debut, and now fronts Snakecharmer, a band that also includes some former members of the early-eighties Whitesnake lineup, and with whom he has already put out two studio albums.
These days, the name Mike Slamer is well respected and instantly recognized among fans of AOR and melodic rock. His songwriting style, along with his fundamental approach to studio sound production, is a recognizable trademark that stamps virtually every album, if not the whole style of a band or artist. Whether it’s his solo studio work or his work with the newer outfit Seventh Key, where Kansas bassist Billy Greer plays alongside him. In fact, this approach is easy to spot already on the studio work of Slamer’s former band Steelhouse Lane. In that sense, »Self Defence« is no stranger. It departs stylistically from the bands mentioned above mainly thanks to the specific vocal approaches of Overland and Ousey, although plenty of a chorus melody could just as well have been used on any Seventh Key record.
As always, Slamer hasn’t put a foot wrong this time either. The songs are perfectly detailed, both in the sound production and in the arrangements themselves. They’ve got it all. A polished format of compatible verses, pre-choruses and chorus melodies, a masterfully injected sense of gradual build-up with a mood-driven crescendo in the choruses. The mid-eight passages are packed with witty solo escapades of Slamer’s virtuoso guitar playing, the chorus melodies are carefully enriched with a touch of bombast, which the arrangements build up through layered vocal harmonies. The pairing of Overland and Ousey works optimally. Both singers bring a mild soulful touch to the vocal lines, the melancholy element is pronounced once again, and at the same time they don’t hold back on raw emotional intensity as they dig into the material. Besides the duets, they usually split the verses »fifty-fifty« across the songs. The choruses grab you instantly! They stress bombast and immediate musical memorability. The songs never waver in quality, which is why »Self Defence« is a compact and wildly likeable melodic rock record that quickly gets under your skin.
Fans of the British school of AOR and melodic rock, as well as fans of artists connected in one way or another with the name Mike Slamer (Slamer, Seventh Key, Steelhouse Lane), will be more than thrilled with this one.
Lineup
Steve Overland – vocals
Chris Ousey – vocals
Mike Slamer – guitar, Hammond B3 organ, keyboards, bass guitar
Ronnie Platt (Kansas) – backing vocals
Billy Greer (Kansas, Seventh Key) – backing vocals
Kerry Denton – drums
Erik Sabo – Hammond B3 organ
Christian Wolff – guitar and keyboards on the track ‘Evolve’
Production
Mike Slamer
Track list
1.Tiger By The Tail (3:38)
2. Let The Good Will Out (4:11)
3. So Blind (5:31)
4. Destiny (3:50)
5. Shadow On The Sun (3:32)
6. Save My Soul (5:02)
7. Evolve (4:27)
8. Self Defence (3:42)
9. Smile Before You Lie (4:21)
10. Lifetime (4:05)
11. Practice What You Preach (4:06)
12. Visionary Man (4:34)
