Back with his eleventh studio album, Steve Newman is showing yet again just what high quality AOR/melodic rock is all about. He has again teamed up with Rob McEwen (drummer for the last nine Newman albums), while long-time friend Mark Thompson-Smith (Praying Mantis) lends his vocals to "Fear Of Flying" and " Two Sides". Also, the mastering was taken care of by none other than Harry Hess (Harem Scarem). In many ways, it is hard to imagine that this is a brand-new album out of 2017, as apart from the improved production this could well have been released some forty years ago.
Each song has a huge anthemic chorus that invites the listener to join in and sing along. The guitars haven’t been sanitised too far out of existence, while the vocals are always melodic but have just the right amount of roughness and emotion to keep interest high. Some of the issues normally prevalent with AOR are too much sugar and sweetness, combined with one song that sounds pretty much like every other, but that certainly isn’t the case here. This is sheer class from start to end.
