Vega teams up former Kick vocalist, Nick Workman, with songwriting duo Tom & James Martin (HOL, Khymera, Sunstorm etc) and drummer Dan Chantrey, plus adds Dennis Ward (PC69) at the mastering desk.
I'm not that familiar with either Nick or the Martin's previous efforts, but what I hear on this album is a style which is retro. We are talking keyboard heavy 80s rock meets pop. At times I felt Rick Springfield was a good comparison, along with acts like Balance, Aviator and Harlan Cage. Towards the end of the album a couple of tracks reminded me of Billy Idol. A good production job on the album keeps it sounding fresh, rather than dated.
This is a slick music generation machine, with everyone playing their part well. I found the vocals took me a little while to get used to. At first, I wasn't sure they matched the music, but they have won me over.
When I was going through rating each song, I found the majority of the tracks got a 4 star rating. The ballads are decent enough, but they seemed to lack the spark of the other songs. However, they don't detract from the positive impact of songs like "Kiss of Life", "One Of A Kind" & "Staring At The Sun" where the band create some great keyboard driven AOR with vocals, keyboards and guitars all intertwined marvelleously.
Rating: 4 Stars
