Another one that passed me by last year was Hardline’s ‘Life’ and it’s my own fault as my unwillingness to ‘stream’ anything (I aim to be the last man on Earth to stream music) means these days unless I get a disc or a download in advance I normally don’t review, I mean who wants to listen to my ramblings when the disc could already be in your hands. Sometimes though of course the album is so good that I feel obliged to let any later-comers know and with this being almost three quarters of a year old I’m guessing all the cool kids have this one now.
Hardline to many of course are that band who with Neal Schon onboard crafted one of the finest Melodic Rock records of the early 90’s that arguably would have been huge were it not for Grunge. Since then we’ve seen just 4 albums all with differing line-ups and the only constant being the voice Johnny Gioeli.
Now comes album number five with Hungryheart’s Mario Percudani replacing Josh Ramos on guitars and Marco Di Salvia taking the drum stool for the first time. And if you’re a fan of that first album or indeed their last you should be excited as the press release threatens that ‘Life’ takes “both 1992’s ‘Double Eclipse’ and 2016’s ‘Human Nature’ albums acting as chief influences for their new songs, the end result is a perfect blend and sees Hardline heavier, stronger, bigger and better than ever.”
Well it is pretty good stuff, and Gioeli excels as always but the plain truth is that like any ‘great’ album that relies on place and time for at least part of its magic, you can never quite recapture that lightning. This certainly goes close though, probably closer than any have before it.
We start out extremely well with ‘Place To Call Home’ which really does manage to capture that urgency and melody of the vintage band. It’s a great rocker that could easily be from that great first album. And whilst ‘Take a Chance’ takes the foot a little off the gas, again it’s such a good song. As openings go that’s pretty perfect.
No whilst you couldn’t really say things dip at that point by comparison ‘Helio’s Sun’ is just a little less memorable, with a chorus thats just a little less immediate. It does however pave the way nicely for the album’s first ballad ‘Page Of Your Life’ all emotion and piano it took me few listens to get into this one despite Gioeli being on top form. I guess I just wasn’t ready for the change of pace?
The middle section of the album takes us back to the Rockers with ‘Out Of Time’ the pick of a bunch and one of my favourites here. It’s ably supported by the solid d crunchy ‘ Hold On To Right’ and ‘Handful Of Sand’. The second ballad comes in the shape of ‘This Love’ another gentle ‘heart-wrencher’ that Gioeli does so well.
Vying for contention for best track here is certainly ‘Story of My Life’ that follows. It’s a huge sounding song that really lets new boy Mario Percudani shine reminding me of Reb Beech at his finest. It’s perhaps shines even a little brighter sandwiched as it is between to ballads – the next a cover of Queen’s ‘Who Wants to Live Forever’. Now I’d never suggest a band cover Freddie and co but in all honesty I don’t think I’ve heard a better Queen cover.
And like we were treated to some big rockers in the middle section we close out similarly as ‘Chameleon’ adds a dab of mid-tempo bluesy rock that suddenly bursts into life before closer ‘My Friend’ chalks up another ballad and if I have one complaint here it’s that four is too many especially when the rockers are so damned cool and beautifully done. The additional ‘Acoustic Version’ of ‘This Love’ on my review copy though shows that the emphasis just as much on the ballads as the rockers.
I love the rockers as much as any I’ve heard this year and can appreciate the lighter material but maybe I’m just not in that kind of mood today.
Tracklist: 1. Place To Call Home | 2. Take A Chance |3. Helio’s Sun | 4. Page Of Your Life | 5. Out Of Time | 6. Hold On To Right | 7. Handful Of Sand |8. This Love |9. Story Of My Life | 10. Who Wants To Live Forever|11. Chameleon |12. My Friend