Stephen
Putting hard rock, melodic metal, and progressive into one room is like a two-edge blade. The other side will interest you with a different feel on each song, the other one will not appeal everybody, especially when one's expect a straight forward rock song and instead they gave you a complex time signature change. I'm able to appreciate all three genres so that's not an issue for me, but the main issue of this album is the lack of big hooks and strong tunes that can come out boldly to challenge the other great releases of 2011.
Let's focus first on the upper point of this album. 'Another Chance' is a melodic rock treat with a beautiful progressive sweep on the rhythm section. The verse is a bit patchy but the chorus is truly great. 'World Keeps Falling Down' breaks out with a blistering drums and a decent amount of melodic dose on the arrangement. This track is mainly progressive metal and also a good one. 'Take You Away' is more of a melodic metal with Dokken flavor and an impressive composition. 'That's What Happened To Us' is another midtempo gem on the second half.
De Rosso's guitar play is superior here. Some songs are even better than it what supposed to be just because of his awesome delivery. 'There's Still Hope' and 'Even If' are quite average but the riffs are extra-ordinary. 'Hold On' is an okay-ballad and 'Faith-Anne' puts them in a bluesy mood, but both are quite impossible to be classified as great tracks.
The production is huge, a clear spectacular sound they have there, too bad the songwriting quality just can't match that winning factor. Still this is one of those albums that you can buy if the price is right, focusing your attention to the guitar and some highlights I mentioned above. Some average songs might grow later though I doubt that will exceed the total score of 70%, which is a fair state to their game.