Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Bryan COLE: ”Sands Of Time”

Rating: RRRR
Label: MelodicRock Records
Review by Kimmo Toivonen

The debut album from Bryan Cole is timeless, classic AOR in the vein of Survivor, Journey, Mitch Malloy and Giant. Well produced but not over-polished, ”Sands Of Time” is sure to please most AOR fans. A few of the songs include familiar names in the credits - Jim Peterik of Survivor and Pride Of Lions is heavily involved, and two songs from the great, late Brett Walker are covered. Bryan Cole himself proves that he’s a decent songwriter with ”We Lost The Fire” and ”I’ll Be There For You”, although the latter owes a lot to ”Price Of Love” by Bad English.

The Brett Walker songs ”Hard To Find An Easy Way” and ”More Than A Memory” are both from his ”Nevertheless” album, and genre classics. Cole’s version of ”Hard To Find…” sounds a little more urgent and hard-edged than the original, and I like it a lot. With ”More Than A Memory” he does the unthinkable and drops the killer opening riff of the song - why oh why? I’ve tried to listen this song as a ”new song” and as such it’s good, but I can’t get help it, something’s missing.

The Peterik songs are sure-fire AOR, with the opening track ”Burning With A Reason” being on the heavier side of his songwriting. Other highlights include ”When Love Breaks” and the big ballad ”Nothing Matters”.

http://www.bryancolemusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/bryancoleofficial

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