Highly recommended.

Originally formed in Greece in 2004 by Andy Rock (Andreas Peyos), the line-up changed considerably over the ensuing years, so it was 2011 before debut album ‘Half Past Midnight’ saw the light of day. Encouraged by the plaudits it received, 2012 was spent writing a follow-up, and ‘Dangerous’ is the result, though another line-up change has seen the arrival of Spanish/American singer/songwriter David A. Saylor on lead vocals.

Though the song-titles are rather formulaic (when I first saw the track-listing I thought it was a collection of covers – you’ll see what I mean!) the music is anything but. Yes, it’s as pure an AOR album as you can get, replete with glorious melodies, catchy choruses, emotional vocals, lush keyboards and concise guitar solos, but there’s enough within the music to keep things interesting without pushing the boundaries of this particular genre – the neat drum fills cut in when you don’t expect them to, stabs of keyboards dip in and out of the songs and vie for space with the rhythm guitar and there’s enough energetic thrust in the likes of ‘Alone’, ‘Hold On’, ‘Dream On’ and ‘Is This Love’ to encourage you to leap around and punch the air in delight. ‘I Won’t Forget You’ and ‘If You Still Love Me’ are an AOR lover’s wet-dream (the former embellished with subtle saxophone flourishes and a key-change that you just don’t expect), ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’ and ‘Tonight’ are classy mid-tempo numbers and ‘Awake’ is the big keyboard-dominated power-ballad.

There really isn’t a bad song on this album at all, and it’s wrapped up in a wonderful production from Andy Rock – if I do have any criticism at all, it’s that there are just too many fade-outs, something I’m sure our esteemed Reviews Ed will agree with! [Oh, yes!! PJS] Last Summer my Fireworks colleague Ian Johnson reviewed solo albums buy both Rock and David A. Saylor, giving them both the big thumbs up but also lamenting the fact that they don’t usually make AOR albums like this these days. Well, judging by the strength of the partnership forged here, things are looking up! I’m inclined to check out those two solo albums; anybody who already has will definitely appreciate what Wild Rose have to offer.

Highly recommended!

Ant Heeks