Some albums are very easy to put
in a specific folder and some discs
aren't, like 'Into the Open'. This album
is a result of hard work from a fairly
new hard rock band from Germany and the
line up tells me that these guys usually
play heavier rock than melodic hard
rock.
21Octayne is the name of the project and
'Into the Open' is an epic experience.
It's just like an roller coaster in the
track list. Much to my delight I find a few
glorious melodic hard rock songs like;
'She's Killing Me', 'Turn the World',
'Me Myself and I', 'The Heart (Save Me)'
and the gentle ballad 'I Will Always Be
Right There'.
'Dear Friend' is a hefty track, which flirts
with both the alternative/modern rock and the
light-progressive rock genre. In the modern rock
song 'Don't Turn Away' it swings like hell and Hagen Grohe on vocals shows the width in his
voice. Track titles can fool you
sometimes and 'My Teddy Bear' it's not
as cuddly as the title says. This is a
heavy, dusty, garage rock song with
dark, stoner-rock guitars.
I have to mention the amazing guitar
parts in the middle of the strong
title track 'Into the Open'.
The most progressive rock/metal, I find in
'Leave My Head' with various tempi
and pretty aggressive vocals. The album
ends with a quite insipid song 'Come
Alive'.
This is a wide rock album with tentacles
from prog rock, hard rock, melodic rock,
alternative rock to modern rock n roll.
If you are a fan of modern hard rock,
this is a great album, but to heavy
metal fans and the classic hard rock
audience this is maybe too modern. Nice
production and I believe a pretty good
party album.
21Octayne:
Hagen Grohe
(The Joe Perry Project) - Vocals
Marco Wriedt (Axxis) - Guitar
Alex Landenburg (Rhapsody) - Drums
Andrew "The Bullet" Lauer (Paul Gilbert)
- Basss
