{"id":22623,"date":"2014-10-13T00:00:36","date_gmt":"2014-10-13T00:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=22623"},"modified":"2016-03-06T19:37:36","modified_gmt":"2016-03-06T19:37:36","slug":"album-review-wild-rose-hit-n-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-wild-rose-hit-n-run\/","title":{"rendered":"WILD ROSE – Hit \u2018N\u2019 Run (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

WILD ROSE
Hit \u2018N\u2019 Run<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nAOR Blvd (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Wild Rose is a Greek act boasting a six-man attack in the form of David A. Saylor (lead vocals \/ backing vocals), Andy Rock (guitar \/ keyboards \/ backing vocals), Dirty Haris (keyboards \/ backing vocals), Tiny Karpo (guitar), Phil Gun (bass) and Dimos Thomaidis (drums).<\/p>\n

The combo was originally formed by Andy Rock in 2004, although the debut album, Half Past Midnight<\/em>, didn\u2019t emerge until 2011. In 2013 their sophomore opus, Dangerous<\/em>, was issued suggesting a band bursting at the seams with material, and now that prolific quality has emerged again with Hit \u2018N\u2019 Run<\/em> which although appearing rather soon after the last album celebrates the band\u2019s ten-year anniversary.<\/p>\n

This new composition \u2013 complete with a misleading cover which almost suggests some dodgy sleaze rock band \u2013 offers up a batch of energetic hard rock tunes which are sprinkled with juicy keyboards, a driving guitar sound and American-born David A. Saylor\u2019s distinctive vocal strains.<\/p>\n

With these sort of AOR bands we\u2019re often treated with two vocal variations; firstly we have the high pitched croon and the next a fiery, soulful rich tone, but Saylor has a dryness to his vocal tones. Imagine 80s pop icon Paul Young \u2013 well, sort of \u2013 fronting a hard rock band and you might get the idea!<\/p>\n

The album opens up with \u2018Through The Night\u2019 which opens with a throbbing keyboard and jabbing riff before Saylor\u2019s husky tone interjects. There are warm textures flowing through this track; it\u2019s easy on the ears, a tad clich\u00e9d but extremely likeable and inoffensive. The guitar, as is always the case with such a yearning sound, is ever-present as it drives the sound quite literally through dark streets in search of a love we may never ultimately find.<\/p>\n

The messages on this opus are certainly loud and clear if rather predictable, but then again that\u2019s the joy of this sort of melodic rock. \u2018I\u2019ll Be There\u2019 follows a similar path with that guitar and keyboard union bolstered by a gentle drum thud. \u201cWe\u2019re a hundred miles apart\u201d<\/em> Saylor almost mourns, \u201c…but that won\u2019t be enough to stop my beating heart\u201d<\/em> he adds, and it\u2019s all very sincere amidst that marrying of simmering harmony and prodding percussion.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s power rock right to the hilt; rich in substance but lacking an overall grit and depth at times, although \u2018Stay\u2019 offers up a fizzing guitar introduction which in contrast is belied by Saylor\u2019s pleading which isn\u2019t that convincing as he barks, \u201cMaybe there is hope for us\u201d<\/em>. But I\u2019m not so sure, as I become more and more wrapped up in that familiar air of AOR mediocrity.<\/p>\n

\u2018Without Your Love\u2019 is a subtle piano-led ballad and this is where Saylor comes into his own. His strains seem more comfortable with such a dreamy, lightweight sway, whereas during other high-end rockier numbers it appears as if he\u2019s struggling to match the fire in the bellies of his fellow musicians.<\/p>\n

My other issue is the rather downbeat quality of it all. I\u2019m used to AOR being centred upon being in love or getting love back, but there is such a broken-hearted air of the sullen about Saylor\u2019s voice as if he\u2019s giving up on it all, and I\u2019m almost prompted to yell \u201cGet over it!\u201d<\/em> at the stereo!<\/p>\n

Although this album is a smooth experience, a majority of the tracks seem to melt into one another offering the same dreary pleading, \u2018Alone\u2019 being another example of Saylor\u2019s desperation to find love and adding a strain of the negative to what should be uptempo proceedings. And so with that, Hit \u2018N\u2019 Run<\/em> is a little too much on the depressing side, because when Saylor seethes, \u201cI can\u2019t sleep another night\u201d<\/em> I know how he feels; someone ground down to the bare bones by this rather agitated heap of middle of the road rock. I\u2019ve seen some misleading album covers in my time but this takes the biscuit!<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WILD ROSEHit \u2018N\u2019 Run AOR Blvd (2014)Rating: 5\/10 Wild Rose is a Greek act boasting a six-man attack in the form of David A. Saylor (lead vocals \/ backing vocals), Andy Rock (guitar \/ keyboards \/ backing vocals), Dirty Haris (keyboards \/ backing vocals), Tiny Karpo (guitar), Phil Gun (bass) and Dimos Thomaidis (drums). The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1520],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-wild-rose"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22623"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41374,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22623\/revisions\/41374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}