Label: Frontiers Music Srl.
Release date: August 6, 2021
Production: Jeff Scott Soto & Alessandro Del Vecchio
Album length: 40.26 min
Genre: Hard Rock
Rating: 8.5/10
Spektra are a brand-new hard rock and AOR revival outfit from Brazil, led by a musician who goes by BJ, and they dropped their studio debut “Overload” in early August this year.
BJ, who handles vocals in Spektra, has gathered members of Tempestt and JSS Band around them: drummer Edu Cominato and guitarist Leo Mancini. The lineup is rounded out by bassist Henrique Canale, a well-known Brazilian producer and composer. BJ is also highly regarded in Brazil for their vocal punch, for their work in Tempestt and other projects, and on the international stage they got noticed through the backing band led by Jeff Scott Soto, as well as in S.O.T.O., where they’ve been on board since 2009 as guitarist and backing vocalist.
BJ has already put out quite a few albums with Jeff. Either as part of JSS Band (‘A Night in Madrid’ CD/DVD, ‘Damage Control’, ‘Loud and Live in Milan’) or S.O.T.O. (‘Inside the Vertigo’, ‘Divak’, ‘Origami’). BJ is also a member of the band that revived the cult Swedish-American hard rock institution Talisman a while back, playing keyboards and singing backing vocals at the biggest European festivals.
Production duties went to Jeff Scott Soto and Alessandro Del Vecchio, who also shaped the arrangements of the backing chorus melodies. And you can feel that strongly across the whole of “Overload”.
“Overload” is a seriously polished piece of work. Spektra aren’t reinventing anything, but what they do, they do with real conviction and quality. This is ultra-musical, insanely catchy hard rock, leaning heavily on the legacy of eighties AOR for inspiration, though thanks to some occasionally well-sharpened phrasing it often crosses the line and gets a bit metal-bristly too. The four-piece is technically brilliant, and you feel it at every step of the album. Even though Spektra move within a predictable genre template of well-chewed formulas, where everything is subordinated to bombastic, musical melodies that grab you from the first listen, the technical polish and sharpness are a major factor. That way the quartet brings extra dynamics to the development of the songs, which in places successfully masks the predictable flow of the album. The guitar solos are downright fantastic, and the extremely dynamic, committed drumming deserves special praise too.
When it comes to vocals, BJ has learned a ton from Jeff Scott, among others. The vocal performance is more than decent. Soto and Del Vecchio also contributed backing vocals, which build incredibly gripping harmonies around the lead melodies, and that’s one of the big magnets when listening to this album. No surprise, since the two of them also produced it. Soto delivers a vocal duet on the opening (title) track, which is one of the album’s peaks. The title track kicks things off and immediately floors you with one of the best choruses on the record, and right on its heels comes the next one, Running Out Of Time. The third tune, the mid-tempo and atmospheric Just Because, also keeps up the high level of songwriting commitment and creative sharpness, because the hypnosis of musical allure that the band is constantly chasing never lets up. The band builds the atmosphere inside the songs superbly, so every chorus tends to deliver a bombastic, dramatic peak. There’s also the ballad Since I’ve Found You, though it’s dispensable, or it would have been better at the tail end of the album, since it takes some momentum out of the middle. Things are put right back in their place by Our Love, which unfolds around a seriously gripping lead phrase, and Breakaway, which stands out with one of the most infectious choruses. Don’t Matter owes a debt of inspiration to Queensryche’s legacy from the »Operation Mindcrime« era.
Not to ramble on: most of the songs are hugely confident and show top-notch songwriting and performance. That’s why the album comes across as very convincing for the most part, even if it’s a skillful recycling of what’s already been said. It certainly doesn’t lack heart. Fans of Talisman and of the albums Jeff Scott Soto has released will find something for themselves here. W.E.T. is definitely worth adding to that list, and the song Black Into Light carries a noticeable Journey influence. In short: “Overload” is a very good revivalist album, where hard rock and AOR shake hands in a remarkably conciliatory way, in a highly contemplative dialogue. If you count yourself a fan of high-grade musicality in heavy rock, you absolutely have to check this album out.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
1. Overload
2. Runnin’ Out Of Time
3. Just Because
4. Since I Found You
5. Our Love
6. Breakaway
7. Don’t Matter
8. Back Into Light
9. Forsaken
10. Behind Closed Door
11. Lonely Road
Lineup:
BJ – vocals
Leo Mancini – guitar
Edu Cominato – drums
Henrique Canale – bass
