Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Brentini, Alen
Label: Install Records
Release: 2014
Running time: 49:23
Rating: 4/5
Alen Brentini is a rare kind of guitar hero, and he’s back on the scene with his third studio outing, »Soul’d Out«. You could call it his most ambitious work yet, the point where the seasoned musician hits the peak of his creative zenith. »Soul’d Out« is an album where Brentini went all in on creating the feeling that a real hard rock band is right there with us on the record, and not just one guy surrounded by studio extras carrying out inferior tasks on command. »Soul’ Out« really does come across as the album of a hard rock band.
The album boasts excellent production: sensual, live and warm sound, tightly glued together, with clearly contrasted instruments that make for the best possible sonic payoff. Brentini likes to flirt with riffing that can bring to mind Van Halen, the golden days of Bon Jovi, but also Skid Row or classic Whitesnake. For this release Alen called in the exceptional and highly esteemed American rock keyboardist Michael T. Ross.
On this album Brentini has actually delivered a vivid mix of fierce, »shredded« guitar riffs and, on the flip side, more sensitive moments, which he builds by leaning on a funky, bluesy rhythmic feel, naturally reaching for a bigger dose of organic sound.
Alen Brentini is first and foremost a guitar master. Sculpted. It’s a pleasure to follow his ideas, the variety of his arrangements and the heartfelt playing that he sticks with the whole way through, in harmony with the title of the album itself. Since this isn’t an instrumental guitar rock album, like the ones his countryman Samir Šimić »Shime« might make, all the songs are of course enriched with vocals too. Alen handles the vocals himself. Compared to his past work, he has matured in his expression here as well, and even though his main and first virtue, the thing that stuns and enchants the listener, is of course his guitar playing, his voice has also gained velvetiness, warmth and thickness (minus the studio polish, of course). So in terms of vocal output too, »Soul’d Out« is a clear evolutionary step forward from this musician’s previous two albums, and it surely delivers an artistic standout within the hard rock genre on the soil of our southern neighbor. Over the decades Rijeka has always been known for a special musical vision, a pile of excellent musicians and performers, and in all of this Brentini is its credible standard-bearer for new times.
You can feel on the album that Bentini has spent the last three years working the big stages and playing more than usual. In a hard rock band format, of course. You can feel it all in the outstanding chemistry and the great compatibility of the building blocks of the sound within polished, concise musical arrangements. Brentini has an excellent, well-honed feel for musicality, and the album will instantly serve you up a proper feast: an attractive blend of hard rock fury, seductive lead melodies and, of course, plenty of wittily seasoned solo trickery that this guitar wizard pours out of himself, all the while carefully making sure the songs never lose their compositional compactness, their red thread.
»Soul’d Out« is an album with a finely built-in sentiment of the Kvarner, which adds that all-important breath of unique value. Get Up Stand Up is the track that has it all. Everything a composition needs to grab you instantly. The song has the pedigree of a hit single that radio airwaves could fall for in a heartbeat. A song with this kind of hit potential doesn’t come along all the time. I think it’s the most penetrating cut on Brentini’s otherwise beautiful and accomplished new studio album, one that in itself defines Brentini’s outstanding strengths as a composer, producer and arranger. »Soul’d Out« is an album that you die-hard hard rockers, looking for authenticity and heart, instantly swept away by the high-octane voltage of guitar riffs and seductive melodies, simply have to check out.
Lineup
Alen Brentini – vocals, guitar, bass guitar
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Michael T. Ross – keyboards
Marko Duvnjak – drums
Production
Alen Brentini
Tracklist
1. Losing You
2. Make You Happy
3. Ride Your Dreams
4. Reach for the Stars
5. Voice Like an Angel
6. Soemone’s Love
7. Get Up Stand Up
8. Moment of My Life
9. I’ll be Waiting
10. Wishing Well
11. Going Down
