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Metal/Prog Metal CD Reviews

Station Perspective Review by Gary Hill Perhaps this doesn't fit under heavy metal. It has enough of the hair metal kind of sound and arena pop metal concept for me to land it there. Don't expect real steel, though. This more hook-laden pop based stuff than that. There is still enough meat to keep it interesting. I can hear bands like Angel and New England in the mix here, too. It's not really my thing, but if you like pure pop based rocking sounds, this is for you. It definitely calls to a long lost time in music. This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2022 Volume 2. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2022.

Track by Track Review

I Can't Find My Way The opening on this powers in with a metal edge. The track works out to more AOR pop rock from there, leaning toward things like Bon Jovi. It's hook-laden and particularly accessible.

See The Light A bit meaner, this is more of a stomping rocker. It's still very much an AOR tune, though. This is of the pop metal variety.

Do You Really Want To Fall In Love Again This makes me think of the band New England to a large degree. It's very much a pop rocker, with metal edges on the sound.

Don't Keep Me Waiting Now this is much meatier. It still have some pop angles, but the metal concepts are more upfront here. This reminds me a bit of something Van Halen might have done. There is a real hair-metal vibe at play, too, though.

Tonight Not as hard rocking as the previous tune, this has a lot of 80s pop rock sound in the mix. It does turn more metallic later as it literally screams outward.

If You Want Love While this is less pop oriented, it still has its share of hooks. It's more of a metal number that has some really soaring moments. There are some soaring vocal sections and some particularly tasty guitar lines.

Believe Now here we get a driving pop metal screamer. This is so classy. It is one of the highlights of the disc.

All Over Again This track comes in balladic, a bit like Extreme. After a vocal section in that vein, this shifts out to hard rocking, metallic stuff. It's like Zeppelin meets hair metal. This is another highlight of the set and has some real meat on its bones.

Spanish Steps I'm almost reminded of Prince in some of the guitar work on this track. The number is more of a pop rock piece with some strong hooks. There are some spoken sound-bites later in the track as the number explores its sonic territory with some killer guitar soloing.

You Found Yesterday Anthemic and rocking, this has plenty of both metal and pop music concepts at play. The guitar sound is meaty, but that's augmented with some accessible vocal hooks.

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