Raine - Peace

1. Rainmaker
2. I Am
3. Everytime
4. Without You
5. 2 AM (Hang Out Here)
6. Miracles
7. Lost Angels
8. What I'd Rather Be
9. Inside Out
10. I Believe
11. Never Alone

Album Cover:

Total Playing Time: 53:18 m:s

Review date: 12/07/2000

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Raine were previously known as Rainmaker, but changed their name whenever previous vocalist Simon Saxby left to be replaced by American David Lindland. The other members are Jay Stone on guitars, Rennie Xosa on bass and Ben Powell on drums.

Opener, "Rainmaker" kicks of with a heavy drum beat, then the bass. It takes a while for Raine to hit you with the guitars, but it is worth the wait. The opener is a good melodic hard rock tune with some impressive vocals. I can say that after a few listens, because it took me a while to adjust to David Lindland's higher register vocals, which I'm not normally a fan of. On "I Am" the hooks are bigger and this is a definite singalong candidate by the time the second chorus arrives. "Everytime" has a slow ballad style beginning before transforming onto a hook infested mid-tempo rocker and then alternating between the two. These pace changes add some nice depth to the song. 

The guitars are turned up for the big rock of "Without You". "2 AM (Hang Out Here)" is ballad which has a slightly raw feel to it which gives a sense of emotion to the song. A gentle piece of piano kicks off "Miracles" before it develops into a soaring AOR ballad. "Lost Angels" is a Steve Perry/Clif Magness tune which unsurprisingly bears a passing resemblance to Journey, albeit Journey in one of their more rockin' moods.

"What I'd Rather Be" & "Inside Out" are a couple of is a hard rockers that maybe don't quite match up to the rest of the material on offer. "I Believe" is another ballad that is handled with class, especially on the big chorus. The band finish off with a mid-tempo AOR rocker in the Journey vein.

Raine combine AOR and hard rock in a convincing package that includes some neat song writing touches. After the first couple of tracks I though we were going to be in for an album full of mid-tempo rockers, but, in fact, Raine provide a varied diet in terms of feel and tempo. A diet that will appeal to many melodic rock fans.