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There are some musicians that you always know
when you are seeing their names under a release that they are true
and have given their best in order to achieve the greatest result.
On the other hand there are some other musicians that they only live
by fooling the people and releasing albums with no quality. But in
the music industry those things are known and especially to the fans
that are in love with music.
Mike Slamer (Streets/Steelhouse Lane) and
Billy Greer (Kansas) are on the first category that I described
above. Seventh Key, for those who might not know, this is the
project band of those great musicians. “The Raging Fire” is the
second album of the band and a more mature one in every way. Those
guys really respect the fans that follow them all those years and
this will not change now, or never, I hope.
Those who have listened to the previous work
of those two men, and of course their works with their bands, know
exactly what should they wait. As for those who do not know them or
who haven’t listen to a single note from them, better stop reading
these lines right now. Maybe they are reading by mistake!
Now, as it concerns the music part, the album
starts from where their debut stopped. Yes, as you have guessed this
album is better than their first one! Mike is delivering the goods
with his excellent guitar harmonies and his unique solos, and
Billy’s voice sounds better than ever! This album is closer to
Mike’s Steelhouse Lane “Slaves Of The New World”, which is regarded
by many (including myself) as a monumental one.
To get to the point, “The Raging Fire” is an
excellent pure hard rock album in the vein of Steelhouse Lane. Of
course is one of the best albums of this year and a gift to the
lovers of pure melodic hard rock music. Mike except his fantastic
guitar work has also made the production of this album, which is
rather superb!
The album starts with one of the best songs of
this year! “The Sun Will Rise” is an ideal opener for any album and
gets you right to the point of pure melody and power! Enjoyable
verse and outstanding chorus. This song will leave you breathless.
“Always Form The Heart” starts slow, but then bursts into a great
hard rocker hymn. “You Cross The Line” is the “strange song” of the
album, and be sure that it will become your beloved one after some
hearings. It is a dark esoteric song that in every listening gives
you more and more from its feelings! The next song “An Ocean Away”
is a classic hard rocker that will grab your attention from the
first listening. A very melodic and beautiful song. The homonymous
song is an atmospheric, prog song, which needs more hearings to get
used to it, and then you will play it all the time. “Sin City” is
straight rocker song with a good guitar riff and a very nice chorus.
“It Should Have Been You” is an breathtaking moody ballad that will
touch every lonely soul! A very good hard rock album always should
have at least one amazing ballad. That’s the right way! “Run” is a
good rocker that will remind you of course of Def Leppard and
generally the late 80’s/early 90’s hard rock songs. “Pyramid
Princess” is one of my favorite songs from this album. Classic hard
rocker with an epic feeling and a great break in the middle of the
song. The last one “Winds Of War”, is another mid-tempo song, which
starts with an acoustic part and then rocks pretty well.
Seventh Key’s “The Raging Fire” is one of
those albums that we will remember after many years and we will talk
about it with the best of words. I feel so lucky that I listen to it
the period that it was released. If you are considering yourself as
a lover of hard rock music or if you just loved Steelhouse Lane’s
last album, then this one is just for you. Melodic hard rock music
at its best, no more or less.
by Thanos Aggelakis 9/10
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