| CD REVIEW H.A.R.D. |
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Band : H.A.R.D. Hungary’s capitol city Buldapest based act H.A.R.D. came into existence when singer Zoltan Bátky-Valentin (in spite of his youth he’s already well-known in his home country thanks to participations to Stonehenge, Wendigo, After Crying, and Queen Tribute) joined an already existing core of musicians [guitarist Zsolt Csillik, keyboardist Gábor Gyongyösi (whose task was taken over by Bátky-Valentin after the recordings of this album), bassist Gábor Marcovics, and drummer Tibor Donászy (replaced by Zoltan Vary after the recordings of the album) all of which already with a strong and long background in Hard Rock (playing in bands with many awards and gold discs, such as Edda, Fix, Dance, Sing Sing, and Kiss tribute act Kiss Forever Band)] in 2007. The original incarnation of the band – with a vocalist singing in the band‘s native language (and I’m not even sure if that was with a dífferent singer at all) and known as Hard – had already released two albums. But the guys saw a posibility for their music…in which they had great faith…to be able to grow beyond the Hungarian borders, if only thay would bring it in the English language. So, with material taken off those previous albums (both apparently recorded in 2005) of the core band, Bátky-Valentin re-wrote the lyrics in English and gave the songs new vocal harmonies and choruses. After an additional recording session in 2007, the band saw Traveler released in Hungary in early 2008 (Feb. 4). Soon after Traveler hit the shops in Hungary, the guys were able to support Jeff Scott Soto and Tempestt on their Hungarian show in March, which was móre than a beautiful kick-off for the album’s promotion! Soon after (and thanks to the fact that the band had started a MySpace page in Dec. ’07), the band got an invitation of collaboration from celebrated producer Beau Hill (you’ll find he’s credited to albums by the likes of Europe, Alice Cooper, Winger, Ratt, Warrant, and many more). A couple of songs were re-recorded, and then given a mix by Hill…so at this moment the guys already have a 3-song promo pack with an up-to-date sound to meet international criteria. Meanwhile however, there’s still the band’s debut album, which has been travelling around the world as more and more labels, promotors and distributors (among which Germany’s AOR Heaven) were contacting Hammer Music for deals to give Traveler a further distribution. Not really a big surprise, as the band deals in a very nice Classic Rock based, melodic and keyboard-driven type of Hard Rock (which should do very well indeed with fans of AOR as well). Lead singer Bátky-Valentin has a very nice warm voice, and his lyrics may be somewhat cliché [just listen to songs like album openers “Forever Hard” and “Rock Is My Name”, or “Traveler” and “The Voices” (all relating to the role of Hard Rock in his life and the latter giving tribute to the great singers – Ian Gillan, Robert Plant, Steven Tyler, Freddy Mercury, Sammy Hagar, Paul Stanley, Glenn Hughes, and David Coverdale – that have inspired him, by actually naming them in the song), or the “broken love relation” songs “Stay”, “Two Hearts”, and “Call Of The Wild”], but they work well to give the songs an anthemic feel. Although some of the songs have a calmer opening, the band waits until album closer “Time To Change” to go for a song which can réally be called a ballad! At myspace.com/hardhungary, you can find the three Beau Hill-mixed songs (“Stay”, “Rock Is My Name”, and “Dreamworld”), the album version of “The Voices”, as well as a home recording of new song “My Runaway”, annd a couple of videos (but I don’t know what they comprise, as I’ve had no time to check – with only a couple of days before a week’s holiday, I had to gather info for some 20 releases, wheich meant working like hell against the grain of time! But of course, you’re free to check it out for yourselves, see?). Personally, I’m not réally too hot about this album. In my opinion they play it on safe just a tad too much, opting to go neither too heavy nor too mellow, and what with the singer’s somewhat sedate approach (hey, I know I said something nice about him earlier), the overall sound is somewhat melancholic. Nevertheless, the songs incrusted themselves into my mind after only a couple of listening sessions (which were followed by more as I was approaching reviewing duties)…so I’ll have to admit that there’s a certain quality within! When the holidays are over, I’m definitely gonna listen to new version of those three tracks mentioned earlier (and with the editor-in-chief beilng away on a short holiday abroad himself, there’s a small chance I might give this review a PS)! 78/100 Tony. |