Stephen
After a long career with Oliver Wakeman, British guitarist, David Mark Pearce felt it's about time to release his own album, and with the help of prominent singers, Goran Edman and John Payne, he finished 'Strange Ang3ls' in 2011 and was released under AOR Heaven. What will you have inside is basically classic hard rock roots combined with the sweet element of melodic rock of the 90s. Most songs are midtempo, and probably only couple of fast-paced tunes, 'Strange Ang3ls' definitely will appeal MHR fans the most.
"Alone I Cry" is a top-notch opener. The beautiful verse packed with a brilliant chorus is just stunning. "Shelter Me From The Rain" is another great follow-up. The chorus is infectious and easily stuck in your mind for days. "Tell Me Why" is a semi-ballad AOR, I like this but somehow too many repetition on the chorus. Two other gems I love here are "To Live Again" and "Save Your Prayers" and somehow "Eden Is Burning" is the weakest track of the bunch, but good thing is that it's probably the only filler I found.
The production is great and the decision of putting Edman and Payne's vocal to the mix is unquestionably correct. The different characters of both singers added a rich flavor to the music but another problem is probably the lack of diversity in the composition, making many songs here sounded too similar with hundreds of other melodic rock bands that came out in the last 5 years. Nevertheless, this album has built a solid foundation of good melodic rock and thoroughly enjoyable, especially on the guitar parts.