CD´s Reviews
Release Date: October 20th, 2006
Line Up: Jeff Scott Soto - Vocals; Marcel Jacob - Guitars, Bass; Fredrik Åkesson - Guitars; Jamie Borger - Drums, Percussion
Sweden is one of the main deliverers of Prog, Metal and Hard Rock bands and Talisman isn’t one of the least names coming from that country. After 16 years and seven studio albums (plus some live albums and compilations), they are still releasing top ‘melodic hard rock’ that must appeal to every metal, hard rock and especially AOR fans.
Since the previous release “Cats and Dogs”, the musicians of Talisman were all very busy with other projects. Jeff Scott Soto worked with Journey guitar player Neal Schon in Soul SirkUS; a cooperation that eventually lead to Jeff singing with Journey during the second half of their 2006 tour. Marcel Jacob (bass) worked with Last Autumn’s Dream (AOR), whose line-up also consisted of drummer Jamie Borger, who also took part in the 2006 Treat reunion. And let’s not forget Fredrik Åkesson who plays with Arch Enemy now. So, it’s a miracle it took them ‘only’ three years to release this “7”. ;-)
As always, the vocals of Jeff are top notch. The experience of the musicians is dripping from your speakers, with incredible guitar solos, great rhythms and a bass to give everything the right swing. The sound is closer to their earlier work on ‘Talisman’ and ‘Genesis’. I’m glad they returned to this ‘Melodic Hard Rock’ and left away the more funky style they used on the ‘Humanimal’ albums, except for the one track “Succumb My Desire”.
Talisman does what we expect from the band: delivering a great album, nothing more, nothing less. So you know what you get when you buy this one.