Emerald Rain - Broken Saviours | ||
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Label: Frontiers Records/Now & Then Producers: Murray Daigle, Mike Dmitrovic & Sean Gregory Year: 1999 Total Playing Time: 43:14 mins:secs Review date: 6 March 1999 |
| Web site: http://web.ukonline.co.uk/nowandthen.records/nowthen.htm
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| Rating: 7/8 | ||
| Verdict: High-octane melodic hard rock that romps along quite nicely | ||
| Emerald Rain are a band that I've be aware of for some time, mainly through the Now & Then mailing list. They were always described as sounding like Harem Scarem, so that created more than a passing interest in them. It also made me a little cautious. I had visions of a Harem Scarem clone rushing in to fill the gap left by Harem Scarem riding off into the horizon to explore pastures new. Or do I mean jumping onto a bandwagon that Harem Scarem has abandoned. Whatever, the whole comparison thing had me thinking they might be a second rate copy. The reviews & comment I read didn't help that much either. Some people raved about how good the album was, whilst others found it average. Curiosity suitable aroused, it has found it's way into my collection & now I can throw in my two-penny's worth with my own review. Emerald Rain play melodic hard rock with bags of vocal harmonies on board. And yes, early Harem Scarem is the most obvious comparison. It is a little bit heavier & less refined than Harem Scarem, but they're both playing the same ball game. My initial impressions were coloured by continual comparisons to Harry Hess & Co. So I had this labelled as good, but not outstanding after the first couple of listens. I've had the chance to listen to this quite a few times before writing the review. That is a good sign in itself. Sometimes listening to albums to write reviews isn't always a labour of love. I'm a bit surprised at just how much I've listened to this without a pen in hand scribbling down notes for the review. This is an album that certainly presses all the right buttons for me and I'm sure that fans of melodic hard rock such as Harem Scarem, Giant & Fair Warning will find a lot to like about Emerald Rain. Emerald Rain reminds me of Fair Warning in more than just the musical genre. I've got a couple of Fair Warning CDs. I enjoy listening to them. They are full of above average, competent tunes. But, whenever I'm looking along my collection trying to decide what album to play next, Fair Warning don't exactly scream 'Play Me' in my direction. I know I've already said that I've played this quite a few times, but I'm not sure that a few months down the line Emerald Rain will scream for my attention either. There just aren't a couple of really killer tunes that stick in my mind and make this truly memorable. Title track, Broken Saviours, is a good opening and fairly typical of what is on offer - high-octane melodic hard rock that romps along quite nicely. The couple of ballads that are on offer don't break any new ground but I didn't expect them to. At the moment I really enjoying listening to this, but somehow a few niggling doubts about it's long term appeal stop me giving this a higher rating. | ||
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