Label: Frontiers 2018
Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom
The former Hardline duo (Gioeli-Castronovo) driven by the power of melodic rock and apparently also melodies composed by Alessandro Del Vecchio. Let's face it. Rock can by something as simple as one chord hitting the right nerve at the right moment. It can also be something as complex as a group of people coming together and creating the sophisticated rock album. This is uber glossy and simply filled with great vocals and harmonies, Set The World On Fire, are taking the listeners on a ride throughout the eighties scene and car cruising moments under the cover of neon lights.
But... is it all glamour, GTA Vice City, bright lights, AOR music that make you want to move your feets, or a world where one bloke (Del Vecchio) writes all the songs and you might just get tired of all the projects and the samey sounding recordings? Well... let's see if she floats. Nothing new under the sun (lyric/music-wise) and it's really not about the unique experience rather than a decent album effort with plenty of layers and at times clever arrangements. Perhaps a tad "too clever" at times as the material tend to get on your nerves with its "hey-look-at-me-stuck-in-second-gear-going-nowhere" kind of beat. Again, it's uber slick and those harmonies by Johnny Gioeli & Deen Castronovo are straight out of AOR heaven. It's just a bit too pretencious and sterile, yeah? no?
The production is a bit muddy and not quite as clear as you'd like your AOR. Some of Del Vecchio's projects are good, others bad, while the majority are right smack down the middle of the road. On the other hand... many people surely do enjoy the Journey-esque styled music. And we didn't even mention once that Castronovo has been sentenced to four years probation after pleading guilty to domestic abuse once again. Final verdict: Music-wise, Not too shabby, but nothing earth shattering.
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