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Metal/Prog Metal CD Reviews

Rags 'N Riches Heaven Is Only a Moment Away Review by Gary Hill On the one hand the guitar sound and production on this lands it in the territory of New Wave of British Heavy Metal and the more raw metal textures of the 80s. The other angle to this is the fact that it's incredibly hook-oriented and catchy with an almost pop rock vibe. To some degree it makes me think of what you might get if you combined Bon Jovi and Motley Crue. There are other things going on here, but that is really the primary vibe at play. This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2018 Volume 3. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2018.

Track by Track Review

Heaven Is Only a Moment Away The guitar sound on this is a bit on the noisy side. The cut is screaming hot in terms of intensity and pace. The keyboards lend an almost space rock edge, but the vocals move into the territory that is tied to NWOBHM. The chorus lands them closer to the 80s glam metal side, though. The closing bit has some intriguing changes.

When the Dream Comes True I love the dramatic opening section on this cut. We get another cool metal tune with the same blending of styles as the first song had. This makes good use of the balance between the more rocking and more stripped back sections.

Is This Really Love While this is more of a power ballad, it's not really a mellow tune. It has a lot of power pop built into it. It's not as effective as the songs that preceded it. It feels a bit rough around the edges at times. All that said, the instrumental break late in the song feels a lot like Queen.

Last Days of the World Much more of a straight-ahead metal grind, this is catchy and meaty. It has some great hooks and textures.

We Stand on the Edge More in line with the glam metal stuff, this is another that has a bit of a rough edge to it. Still, it's a cool tune. It's another with a good balance between mellower and more powered.

Sign of the Times This cut has more of a no frills metal approach. Comparisons to AC/DC aren't out of the question, but with more metal and still a little of that glam texture added to the mix.

Cindy's Working on the Streets Hard rocking metal with some hooks makes up this tune. It's no frills and quite effective.

Rotunda Comunda Coming in a bit tastefully off-kilter and almost proggy, this doesn't lose any of its metal intensity in the process. This instrumental is a killer jam.

Chains of Love While this isn't a huge change, the guitar solo section is so cool. It's melodic, technical and scorching all at the same time.

Catch Me if You Can Melodic rock and meaty metal merge here. This is hook laden and yet really screams.

Take It to the Top Hair metal meets a Motley Crue raw texture on this catchy stomper.

Bonus material:

Ripe for the Pickin' This stomper is another with a great balance between the hook laden and the crunchy.

Livin' Doll Not a big change, this is just another hook laden raw metal stomper.

Dancing Underneath the Moonlight This alternates more melodic choruses with the more rocking raw verse sections.

Catch Me If You Can (original guitar version) Not a big change from the other version of this tune, this is just another solid riff driven stomper with some cool hooks.

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