Label: Avenue Of Allies 2014
Review by Rich Dillon
Four years after their debut release, Hold Your Dreams, Modena, Italy’s melodic rockers Perfect View are back with Red Moon Rising. This new release finds bassist Frank Paulis replacing Cristian Guerzoni and joining founders Max Ordine (vocals), Francesco Cataldo (guitar), Luca Ferraresi (drums) and keyboardist Pier Mazzini to fulfil the Perfect View roster.
The opener “Where the Wind Blows” starts off with some 80’s keyboards and is a generally upbeat outing, reminiscent of the style of Journey. “By My Side” follows suit while “Room 14” is a little grittier (although that’s not the word I’m searching for) I suppose and one of the stronger compositions. "Slave to the Empire" is a solid melodic hard rock with a hooky chorus and “I Will Remember” sports the longest runtime and thankfully the only ballad they chose to include. The clear standout on the album is progressive flare of “In the Name of the Father”, also possibly the heaviest (which may explain my enjoyment of it) contained herein. Next up is “Living in Disguise” followed by the heavier edge of “Dead End Street”, another standout cut. The 80’s vibe of “Holdin’ On” carries us through to the groove laden “In a Blink of an Eye”. The album closes out with a cover of a Toto song from their 1988 The Seventh One album, “Home of the Brave”.
Although I generally prefer a little harder of an edge to my rock and a little less pop flavour, Perfect View have issued a solid collection of melodic hard rock compositions with elements of AOR, classic and progressive rock thrown in. This release should appeal to fans from Journey to Europe.
http://www.perfectviewtheband.com/
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