Reviews: Night Ranger, Circus Of Rock, Spektra, Alirio (Reviews By Matt Bladen)

Night Ranger - ATBPO (Frontiers Music Srl)

With 17 million album sales under their belts, the near-legendary rock band known as Night Ranger return with their 12th studio album titled ATBPO (And The Bands Played On), no it's not a bunch of Saxon covers. The title is an ode to all the bands making music at a time when it is near impossible. It comes at a very creative, purple patch in Night Ranger's career where the men involved will never recapture that MTV baiting, radio destroying magic of Sister Christian but have settled into a very strong latter career much like compatriots Styx and Journey. Night Ranger 2021 is the founding membership of Jack Blades (bass, vocals), Kelly Keagy (drums, vocals) and Brad Gillis (lead & rhythm guitars) along with 'new boys' Eric Levy (keyboards) and Keri Kelli (lead & rhythm guitars). 

Together they have written an album of arena ready rock tracks with a complexity that belies the catchiness. Bring It All Home To Me has a radio loving chorus but also dual leads from Kelli and Brad Gillis and of course the dual vocals of Blades and Keagy who shift depending on the type of song. Night Ranger were always different to a lot of their 80's contemporaries adding classic rock and progressive rock flourishes to the AOR sound and again ATBPO has all of that in the mix, from the driving Breakout, through the bluesy Hard To Make It Easy, the technical Cold As December and the stomp stomp clap of Dance the album is Night Ranger doing what they do best. What I also noticed is how few ballad there are, most of the album is pumping hard rock and better for it. I've always thought Night Ranger were one of the better bands from the FM/MTV 80's heyday and on ATBPO they prove they are just as good now as then. 8/10 

Circus Of Rock - Come One, Come All (Frontiers Music Srl)

Ah the rock/metal opera, previously the bastion of Tobias Sammet (Avantasia), Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon), Ian Parry (Consortium Project) and even Timo Tolkki (Avalon). But now Finnish drummer Mirka Ranatanen (King Company, Kopitelo & Northern Kings) has thrown his hat into the ring, or perhaps the three ring? Yep Circus Of Rock is the debut rock opera project with Ranatanen at the helm and as with all rock opera's worth their salt there is a who's who of rock/metal vocalists adding their pipes to these theatrical rock offerings that straddle European power metal, AOR and the baroque sound of Meat Loaf. You can pick an choose which songs are your favourites, one of mine is Sheriff Of Ghost Town which has Marco Hietala's gruffness on it and as it stands may be his final song as a singer. 

However the remaining songs on the album such as Desperate Cry has Johnny Gioeli (Hardline), In Times Of Despair features Elize Ryd and is basically Amaranthe, Thunderstone's Pasi Rantanen adds a bluesy punch to Crossroads, while my second favourite track is the brilliantly boisterous Caught In The Middle with Tyketto Danny Vaughn. Ranananen wanted the songs and the performers to speak for themselves so there's no reliance on the overly flashy, and thankfully no extended drum solos. Come One, Come All is a decent addition to the rock opera staple, though it's more of a musical project like fellow Finn Timo Tolkki is a dab hand at. A debut that is very much up to scratch with the leaders of the pack. 7/10 

Spektra - Overload (Frontiers Music Srl)

The creation of vocalist BJ, Brazilian rockers Spektra are a band influenced by the sound of American melodic rock acts such as Journey, Winger and even the more virtuosic offerings from Dokken. The title track gets us kicked off in fine style the band of Edu Cominato (drums), Leo Mancini (guitars) and Henrique Canale (bass) firing on all cylinders, showing their experience with bands such as Tempestt and Jeff Scott Soto band, both of which BJ is a part of, the first as vocalist and the second as guitarist and backing vocalist. This link means that Jeff Scott Soto and one Mr Del Vecchio produce this record making for a massive sound that really sounds like those classic Journey records brought into 2021. 

This is essentially a project to highlight BJ's voice and it does that very well, his history with multiple bands and styles paying off as he can easily move from slinky balladry, Since I Found You, into storming rockers such as Breakaway and the choppy Don't Matter. You can hear the JSS influence on this record throughout, the mixture of slickness, melody and also heaviness really making the album stand out above numerous other melodic/hard rock bands. Spektra are a fully formed veteran band, making an international splash with this debut record, nifty guitar playing, anthemic songwriting and that great voice make Overload a superior slice of melodic rock! 8/10

Alirio - All Things Must Pass (Frontiers Music Srl)

Yet another member of the Brazilian music scene added to the ever-expanding Frontiers roster. Alirio is a newer name on the music scene but on first listen his voice brought good memories of a much missed countryman Andre Matos (even replacing the great man in Sharman). The soaring ballads such as Here I Am and The First Time showing his great measured vocal delivery, that has been honed on stage as part of the Mexican and Brazilian production of Jesus Christ Superstar, as well as being the new voice of The Queen Extravaganza. So he's a very experienced singer and across this debut album his talent is very much  on display, having also had experience in some Brazilian rock and metal bands, such as the aforementioned Sharman. 

On this international debut album Alirio has worked with writers to make a record that will firmly establish his credentials outside of South America, the album features big ballads, the most effective being Grey which features Journey frontman Arnel Pineda and driving rockers such as I'm Still Here and Back To The Roots which draws from Shinedown's modern rock sound, Your Hate having . The main album is 10 tracks but there are 5 additional tracks on the digital versions making for a lot of content on this record and if you enjoy the music here then you'll want to come back again and again, however there are a few too many ballads that affect the pacing of the album. Alirio has made a mark on the international scene so it'll be interesting to see what happens from here. 6/10