Label: Frontiers
Review by Kimmo Toivonen
Who is Joel Hoekstra? Well, he's a world-class guitarist who's current employers include David Coverdale, Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Cher. This is his second album with his solo project "13". If you're thinking it's some guitar noodling he recorded on his spare time in his garage, you couldn't be further from the truth. This is an all-star supergroup album, with some of the best musicians out there: Russell Allen (Symphony X, Adrenaline Mob) on vocals, Derek Sherinian (Sons Of Apollo, Dream Theater, Black Country Communion) on keyboards and the rhythm section includes a living legend Vinny Appice on drums and Tony Franklin (The Firm, Blue Murder) on bass! However, as the name of the project suggests, Hoekstra is the man in charge. He produced and wrote the album, with Chris Collier taking care of the mixing.
A star-studded line-up doesn't automatically guarantee a good album, it comes down to the songs. I'm glad to say that this line-up didn't waste their time recording these songs Hoekstra has written . They are quality hard rock songs. In fact, I can imagine David Coverdale listening to some of these and saying "Damn you Joel, why didn't you offer these for Whitesnake?"
Let's check out some of the highlights... the opening track "Finish Line" sounds like a perfect mix of classic Dokken and Dio, with a "Lynchian" guitar work and Dioesque vocals from Russell Allen.
"I'm Gonna Lose It" is a melodic hard rocker that sounds like it was written for driving down the Pacific Coast Highway. A bit of a Night Ranger vibe on this one. "Hard To Say Goodbye" completes the very strong opening trio. It is my favourite track on the album, a stunning hard rock hit again with a great melodic chorus.
I also like "Lonely Days", "Reach The Sky" and "Take What's Mine" quite a lot, and the rest of the songs aren't too bad either. Vocalist Russell Allen does a fine job, alternating with a Ronnie James Dio-like rougher sound and a softer, more AOR-friendly vocal style. Hoekstra himself doesn't overshadow anyone else, this might be his project but there's no self-indulgent widdling to be found.
One more thing... "Lay Down Your Love" is marked as a digital bonus track. It is not the Whitesnake track by the same name, just an interesting coincidence. Maybe Hoekstra heard it and thought that "if I were to write a song called that, it would sound like this...hey, this is too good to waste!"
No comments:
Post a Comment