Reviews: Palace, Spektra, The Mourning, Occult Witches (Reviews By Matt Bladen)

Palace – Reckless Heart (Frontiers Music Srl)

Michael Palace became a house-writer/guitarist for several Frontiers bands before signing to the label with his own band, ingeniously titled Palace (works for Bon Jovi right?), as well as still being a go to a songwriter, musician, producer, and engineer for other Frontiers acts. Palace immerses himself in the melodic/AOR sounds of the 80’s going as far as releasing two albums a year just like the old days, though this is easier when you play, record and produce everything yourself.

Reckless Heart is his fifth album and it sees Michael again turning to the 80’s as inspiration, but unlike the blocky Tesla Cybertruck, Palace manages to blend retro styling with modern innovations, more of a homage than a crappy copy. Tracks such as the shreddy The Widow’s Web, the Cali-synths of Back In Your Arms, the heavy synth sounds of Back To ’85 (this one is very Toto) while Move Me has the soulful take of FM.

While before he’s dabbled with sleaze, glam, AOR and many more, a lot of the previous albums there to display his prowess as a guitar player, though Stronger By The Day and few others still show his immense six string talents. Reckless Heart is a testament to his skill as a songwriter, if it was 1985, a track such as Weightless would be playing loudly out of every drop top on the Strip. 

There’s a quote in the blurb that states each track has “potential to score a classic action blockbuster or drive the adrenaline of a training montage” and there’s no disagreement from me, Reckless Heart is a breezy blast of the 80’s, Rock That Yacht all the way to the Bay. 7/10

Spektra – Hypnotized (Frontiers Music Srl) 

The second album from Spektra sees refinement and rocking taking centre stage. Influenced by Journey, Foreigner and Winger, this is stadium rock with a bit of prog intelligence, built around the punching drums of Edu Cominato who played with Mr Big in South America, bassist and producer Henrique Canalle, flashpoint guitarist Leo Mancini and singer BJ wo has played with Jeff Scott Soto and is also the voice of DangerAngel. With his Glenn Hughes-like vocal sound, it gives track such as Taste Of Heaven that 70’s rock chug, undercut with the 80’s synth sounds.

Because of the vocals and the harder edged compositions, Spektra have a bit more substance than the countless AOR/melodic bands on the Frontiers label. They’re all virtuosos in their own way and lean more towards Journey/Winger comparisons because of that, behind the gloss there’s a technicality from all involved, a bit like Damn Yankees too with My Voice For You. To be honest talking about Mr Big, Hypnotized is the sort of record I wanted from them, a few big ballads but lots of virtuoso rocking that can get plenty of radio play. For fans of Winger and Night Ranger, Spektra continue to do stadium rock well on their second album. 7/10

The Mourning - Hush (Self Released)

US prog metal band The Mourning finally release their debut album and it's a fitting farewell to co-vocalist Eliana Blanchard, this is her last recorded performance with the band she joined before their debut EP. 

Eliana's role has been taken over by Zai Alyenora but on her swansong she elevated the sound of this band. Without her voice they sound not too dissimilar to Coheed And Cambria due to band co-founder Johnny Ray's higher register, with it there's that additional layer of harmonies, playing off each other on the moody I Feel The Rain. Let's see if Zai can reach these heights but first we'll concentrate on Hush. 

Co-founding member Jason Berlin's drumming is something to really latch on to on Hush. Right from the outset of this debut his drumming is dextrous and expressive, those Coheed influences strong on Chaos Machine as there is on Cries Of The Mind, there's more nifty percussion on I Feel The Rain as the the fluid guitars of Francesco Pinter weave their way through the varying prog influences that make up this album. 

With the title track Loren Whitaker's bass is the chunky djent rhythms with the keys and sound design of Alex Nasla fleshing it out, while he takes My Own Hell into drum and bass. The same can be said of The Wind as My Own Way feels like a Dream Theater track and features a great synth solo and one of the only guitar solos where Pinter is alone, the rest he's joined by special guests who add guitar solos. 

Hush is a complex, engaging prog metal album from a band who are extremely talented. If this is their debut then I'll be following the rest of their career with great interest. 8/10

Occult Witches - Sorrow's Pyre (Black Throne Productions)

I'd never heard of Occult Witches before this fourth album but I'll be checking out their other albums on the back of Sorrow's Pyre. It's retro, occult and packed with fat riffs as they play songs about witches, magic, corruption and the nature of faith.

With a tracks such as Faustian Bargain, they dwell on good and evil, swirling psychedelics shifting between smoky bar room deals and exploratory guitar solos from Alec Marceau, then bang as you're lifted into mystical worlds, the strutting riffs of Flesh And Bones and Tumbling Through The Dark brings you right back to earth again with four on the floor proto metal goodness.

There's buckets of psychedelic jams on this album, be it the end of Bluesman (Sunrise Cocaine) or the freak out section that closes the Sabbath worship of The Fool. It's with these explosions where Eliot Sirois' drums achieve some Keith Moon wildness, as Danick Cournoyer adds the Sabbath-like grooves on tracks such as Sorrow and gets a bit more jazzy on Faustian Bargain and Interlude In E-Flat Minor.

Vocally Vanessa San Martin has that gritty soulful style of Elin Larsson (Blues Pills) or Johanna Sadonis (Lucifer), two bands who these Canadians are very similar too in sound. It's retro, it rocks, it grooves, it's a witchy good time for all. 8/10