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PLACE VENDOME
The
opening track “Cross The Line” is one of the best hard rock/melodic
metal songs of the last decade - a pure diamond! Every fan of rock music
will love this song and this album as well. “I Will Be Waiting” is a
brilliant melodic rock/AOR anthem, which reminded me a little bit of
Kiske’s solo albums. “Too Late” is another melodic AOR hymn. Kiske
can sing so easily any kind of stuff! “I Will Be Gone” is a melodic
rocker that will bring you memories of Helloween after the Keeper era. I
like it ‘cause it rocks on the verse and then it has a very melodic
bridge and chorus. “Setting Sun” is a dark mid-tempo rocker, which has
an 80’s feeling. Kiske’s voice in the chorus will haunt you! Superb
song. “Place Vendome” has a more happy modern rock vibe. It’s just a
fun rock song. “Heaven’s Door” is a ballad that again reminds of
Kiske’s solo works. A good ballad. “Right Here” is a wonderful
mid-tempo rocker with a very nice chorus. “Magic Carpet” is one of my
beloved rockers of the album. It has an 80’s melodic rock felling and
that’s why I like so much. Even the sound of the keys is sooo 80’s!!
Very catchy rocker with a super chorus. The album closes with “Sign Of
Times” which is a nice rock song. The
performances from all the members are excellent. I’m so glad seeing
Kiske back in rock music. I like this album a lot and I’m listening to
it all day long. It’s sure one of the best albums of this year. If you
love melodic rock/AOR music with some hard rock influences then this album
is for you. It would be a miss not to have this album in your album
collection. by Thanos Aggelakis 8,5/10 |
Place
Vendome is one of the best projects of this year. The frontman of the band
is my beloved singer Michael Kiske and the brain behind it is Pink Cream
69’s bassist Dennis Ward. In this band also participate, Kosta Zafiriou
of PC69 on drums, Gunther Werno of Vandenplas on keys and Uwe Reitenauer
on guitars. That’s a really impressive line up. The songs of the album
were written by Dennis Ward in collaboration with band mates David Readman
and Alfred Koffler. So, many may think that this is just another PC69
album with a different vocalist but things aren’t always as they seem.
This album does not sound like a PC69 album otherwise there was no need to
release it under another band’s name. Nevertheless it’s really hard to
characterize the music of the album, and I wouldn’t call this album by
any means neither AOR nor melodic hard rock. The music of the album
balances between those two genres and it leans more towards AOR. I do not
know how many of you have missed the rock side of Michael Kiske but I did.
I was sure that this album would be a special one and I wasn’t wrong
this time. Dennis Ward is an excellent songwriter and great producer. The
production is flawless and the album has a variety of songs.