RockBlog #53: Induction, Tailgunner, Dennis Churchill Dries, Lou Gramm

INDUCTION is a band from Germany, and ”Love Kills!” (RRRR) is their third album. The leader of the band is Tim Hansen, son of Kai Hansen (Helloween, Gamma Ray), and Tim is following in his father’s footsteps, playing melodic metal. I don’t hear direct links to Halloween or Gamma Ray, although Induction isn’t too far stylewise. Their sound is closer to Beast In Black and Powerwolf, the newer generation of Power Metal. Gabriele Gozzi’s high vocals draw comparisons to Beast in Black, as well as some of the arrangements. 

The first two songs ”Virtual Insanity” and ”War Of Hearts” are very much in BiB vein, but excellent nevertheless, catchy like the flu! As the title suggests, ”Steel And Thunder” is an old school Power Metal track and probably the closest thing to the Hansen family legacy. It reminds me more of Axxis though - not to be taken too seriously. The song that lead me to discover this album was ”Strangers To Love”, a delicious mix of AOR and Power Metal, with Clémentine Delauney of Visions Of Atlantis sharing the lead vocals with Gozzi.

The title track ”Love Kills” and ”I Am Evil” are both rather straightforward, catchy songs, while ”The Veil Of Affection” is a double bass drum driven power metal track, yet I keep thinking that it has a bit of a H.E.A.T. vibe too. Or maybe Jona Tee’s power metal offshoot New Horizon more likely. 

The last song ”Empress” builds up nicely to the chorus, but the actual chorus is a bit funny. I keep hearing the choir singing ”Kiss the princess, something something dark”, and I can’t get over that… points for the Accept-style guitar solo with the strategically placed familiar melodies!

If induction’s metal could be described as ”Happy Euro Metal”, UK’s TAILGUNNER play very traditional, slightly more aggressiveI metal - think Iron Maiden, Judas Priest… ”Midnight Blitz” (RRRr) is their second album, and their career seems to be on an upward trajectory. I can see why, they are very good at this Power Metal thing. 

The album is solid metal from the first track to the last, but what they need are a few standout tracks to elevate them to the next level. Th title track and ”Tears In Rain” are pretty close already. If you’re into classic metal sound, do check them out!

DENNIS CHURCHILL DRIES is best known as the vocalist of cult AOR heroes WHITE SISTER and its’ more bluesy, southern rock-flavoured successor TATTOO RODEO. ”Crazy Is This Life” (RRR) is his second solo album.

Produced by DCD and Steve Newman, this album is closer to White Sister than Tattoo Rodeo in sound and style, Before you get all excited, it’s still quite far from the Pomp Glory Days of White Sister. More synth sounds than Rodeo’s Hammonds though, and the blues and southern rock influences are evident on 2 or 3 songs only.

The standout track is the opener ”Angeline”, which is very much in the vein of White Sister indeed. Unfortunately it could have used a little crispier production. Somehow the other songs sound better. As for the rest of the tracks, ”Bring Back Yesterday”, the title track, ”Don’t Look Back” and ”I Never Thought It Was Love” are good ones too. ”I Never Thought…” is very chorus-heavy, and that chorus sounded familiar right away… it took a while to realize that the melody reminds me of ”Right Here Waiting” by Richard Marx - a completely different type of a song though! 

I have eagerly waited LOU GRAMM’s ”Released” (RRRRr) to be… released ever since I heard the first single ”Young Love”. This is album is a collection of previously unreleased songs from Gramm’s archives, dating back to the late eighties and early nineties. The songs were dug up from the vault, polished and finished recently. They’re all co-written by Bruce Turgon, one of my favourite songs with a definite style of his own. 

”Young Love” features Vivian Campbell on guitar, which suggests that it is a leftover from the Shadow King era. That album is one of my all time favourites, and this song would have fitted into it quite nicely. ”Lightning Strikes” has that Shadow King vibe as well, a certain very enchanting darkness, trademark of Turgon’s songwriting. ”Walk The Walk” is a gritty rocker, I hear a bit of ”Urgent” in it, while ”Long Gone” takes me back to the two first Lou Gramm albums, a laid back rock track with a nice chorus. The vocal sounds like it was recently recorded. ”Heart And Soul” is a bit average, but ”Long Hard Look” sounds better, another gritty rocker with several ”Turgon touches”. Why it didn’t make it to album by the same name I can’t understand…

The piano-led version of ”True Blue Love” transforms the pop-rocker into a heartfelt ballad. Next up is ”Deeper Side Of Love”, an okay track with an understated chorus. There are familiar elements in the mid tempo AOR track ”Time Heals The Pain”. Apparently some ideas of it were recycled to Foreigner’s ballad ”Until The End Of Time” on ”Mr. Moonlight” album.  ”Time Heals...” does have an excellent chorus of its’ own, and it’s one my favourites on this album. The very Shadow King-like ”Word Gets Around” could have used a stronger chorus, but otherwise it’s a cool song with tasty keyboards and a brilliant vocal from Mr. Gramm, as usual. 

Frankly, this album came pretty much out of the blue,  but I am happy these songs were indeed ”released”. Bruce Turgon’s songwriting and the voice of an absolute AOR legend Lou Gramm, that’s a match made in melodic heaven!