CHRIS OUSEY — Rhyme & Reason (review)

CHRIS OUSEY — Rhyme & Reason album cover Album · 2011 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Stephen
'Rhyme and Reason' was one of my most anticipated albums of 2011, especially when I read that Mike Slamer and Tommy Denander are involved and Chris Ousey's vocal is undeniably amazing, ever since I first heard him in HEARTLAND, but I think I set my expectation too high. Looks like Slamer wasn't contributing a lot of writing and instead Denander took care of this business and unfortunately the album kinda lacks the outstanding songs necessary to boost the final score.

The big problem here is the weak verses because most of the songs actually have good choruses. For example, 'Motivation' should be a huge uptempo tune, 'Give Me Shelter' should be amazing too, 'The Reason Why' could have been a spectacular ballad, but all verses sound tired and very average, and dragged 'em down to only 'good' status. The perfect arrangement should be like 'On Any Other Day' or 'By Any Other Name' which is simply the best songs here, but sadly, you can't find any other tunes like that.

'A Natural Law' is a good ballad but 'To Break A Heart' is dull and unbearable. The rest of the tracks are good, perhaps at 7/10 value, but I really expect much more than this. The production is great and Ousey's vocal is awesome as usual. However, looks a definite grower type of album, sounds sophisticated and mature, and I'm pretty sure you need to spend time to really appreciate the whole album. 70%
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