HARDLINE
Shout
SPV/Steamhammer
Loud love!
Animal magnetism!
And giving a voice to man’s best friend!
It’s impossible to tell the full story of HARDLINE’s new studio album ‘Shout’ without mentioning their 1992 breakthrough classic ‘Double Eclipse’. After all, that was the moment when this exceptional hard rock act’s unique artistic DNA was created, its first draft already done to perfection. Since then, HARDLINE have brought out six more studio albums, each one of them considered to be a highlight of the genre. ‘Shout’ sees the band helmed by American vocalist Johnny Gioeli (AXEL RUDI PELL, CRUSH 40) and his Italian team mates, keyboardist Alessandro Del Vecchio, guitarist Luca Princiotta, bassist Anna Portalupi and drummer Marco Di Salvia, take up where their 1992 masterpiece left off. “Our current album features our typical choruses and the classic songwriting style of ‘Double Eclipse’, supported by a contemporary production and state-of-the-art sound. The album gives you that feeling you get when you roll down your car window and turn up the radio on full blast,” says Johnny Gioeli, describing the ten new songs. He adds: “This band doesn’t want to reinvent its music. Hardline are Hardline, and our fans know what to expect from us!”. Indeed, ‘Shout’ bears all of the sonic hallmarks of what constitutes a bonafide HARDLINE album: Catchy melodic hooks, catchier melodic vocals, a refreshing disregard towards current musical trends, and a faithfully-performed tribute done so impeccably well that you’d swear that it was an original.
And the secret to ‘Shout’’s very vocal-sounding success? Putting yourself first. And Johnny Gioeli has every reason to do so – 108 reasons specifically as that specific figure represents the number of albums he’s been involved with as a musician. “I could hardly believe the figure myself, and there may well be a few more. I’ve learned something important from every single performance, especially that as a songwriter, you have to be selfish. Because you can only inspire others with your music if you’re passionate about it yourself.” Gioeli is referring to numbers such as the haunting title track, the 80s-inspired “Candy Love” and the powerful “Welcome To The Thunder”, which was sparked by his own status as an artist. Gioeli: “At every show, no matter in which city or country, I always thank the audience for making my amazing life as a musician possible. For me, this gesture is a fixed ritual.” Another important song for the HARDLINE vocalist is the moving ballad “Glow”, which has composer Alessandro Del Vecchio address, among other things, his bandmate’s commitment to the loss of their personal animals and to neglected and abused dogs, as well as the loss of a loved one: “The song is dedicated to over 20 dogs we have had collectively and individually thought-out our lives,” Gioeli explains, “Alessandro and I are great dog lovers. For a number of years now, I’ve flown dogs from animal shelters as a pilot, saving them from being put down because nobody wants them. On tour, we will hand out glow sticks for a small donation, which people can hold up while we play the song and think of someone they have lost and who was particularly important to them.”.
In addition to nine songs composed by Gioeli, Del Vecchio and guitarist Luca Princiotta, the cover version of the SCORPIONS classic “When You Came Into My Life” is definitely one of the biggest surprises on ‘Shout’. Gioeli: “A friend from Norway played me the song, I’d never heard it before. But it’s a real smash hit, which we’ve recorded in typical HARDLINE style out of respect for the SCORPIONS.”
This assessment also captures my sentiment on ‘Shout’ as well: Title track and “Rise Up” are the burning earworm faves here, “Candy Love” and “Welcome To The Thunder” are sonically the most powerful tracks, “It Owns You” is definitely the most lyrically poignant, “When You Came Into My Life” keeps with the time-honored HARDLINE tradition of test-driving a lesser-known hard rock classic to great success with the other surprise being that Gioeli hadn’t even heard the song prior to covering it (which also might explain how well the band personalized their version of “Hot Cherie”, which had been a previous minor hit for 70’s CanCon rockers STREETHEART), and, even if the closing number “Glow” slows the album down to a gentle crawl, it’s a touching song that’s straight from the heart and played with lots of dogged determination.
5.0 Out Of 5.0
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