{"id":23910,"date":"2014-11-28T00:00:30","date_gmt":"2014-11-28T00:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=23910"},"modified":"2015-02-12T22:26:24","modified_gmt":"2015-02-12T22:26:24","slug":"album-review-wicked-sensation-adrenaline-rush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-wicked-sensation-adrenaline-rush\/","title":{"rendered":"WICKED SENSATION – Adrenaline Rush (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

WICKED SENSATION
Adrenaline Rush<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nAOR Heaven (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Apparently named after Lynch Mob\u2019s 1990 debut opus Wicked Sensation<\/em>, this German-based combo plies its trade by constructing catchy heavy rock which features strong vocals and a solid rhythm section.<\/p>\n

Wicked Sensation is very much the brainchild of guitarist Michael Klein, who over the years has seen a few changes within the ranks; the latest being the recruitment of former Accept \/ Bangalore Choir frontman David Reece to replace long-term vocalist Robert Soeterboek ,who was forced to step-down from band activities due to health reasons. The line-up on this album is completed by Sang Vong (guitars), Martin Mannhardt (bass), Bernd Spitzner (keyboards) and Dirk Bruinenberg (drums).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s amazing to note how a singer of Reece\u2019s quality has matured over the years, and his inclusion certainly takes Wicked Sensation up a notch or two from their previous three releases. Then again, it shouldn\u2019t be any surprise that Adrenaline Rush<\/em> is such a winner as the album features a number of guest appearances from the likes of ex-U.D.O. guitarist Mathias Dieth and Harem Scarem frontman Harry Hess. <\/p>\n

Indeed, there\u2019s no better way to start proceedings than with the Reece \/ Hess duet on \u2018King Of The World\u2019, featuring a driving guitar melody and that astonishing chorus which sounds like it\u2019s been wrenched from a Harem Scarem platter.<\/p>\n

With such a fantastic opener, I worried that Wicked Sensation wouldn\u2019t be able to remain consistently brilliant throughout, but how wrong was I? \u2018Same Old Situation\u2019 brings the funked-up coolness of Extreme to mind; it rides in on a sexy groove where the guitars playfully cavort with a punchy horn section, while the drums and bass slip into something more comfortable before preparing us for that beefy chorus strut. Okay, so it does sound rather early 90s but until the grunge invasion this sort of pompous and flirtatious wholesome rock was a real treat to the ears, and if you can\u2019t dig the soul first time around just let it work its magic because this cut will soon be all over you like baby oil. <\/p>\n

\u2018Misery\u2019 offers up a more subtle approach; it\u2019s typically AOR in its fashion with that breezy guitar sound. Wicked Sensation have an unerring ability to vary themes, and so they have more in common with criminally underrated acts like Kik Tracee in that while it could often be tempting to categorise this as lush harmonious rock, things are never as straight forward as they seem. For every \u2018Misery\u2019 there is always a contrasting \u2018Blue Painted Sky\u2019, which is pure Van Halen straight down to that hot guitar sound.<\/p>\n

But then we get a moodier turn with \u2018Angel In Black\u2019, which although littered with keyboard sprinkles is very much darker in tone, especially in the lyrical sense; nevertheless, it\u2019s still a devilish hard rock tune pumped up by those thumping drums. However, for further proof of those contrasting styles \u2013 all which seem to flow into one another with no a crack evident \u2013 we have the slow-building ache of \u2018Living On My Memories\u2019, the hammering title track with its bludgeoning guitar and the closing breeze of \u2018This Time\u2019. <\/p>\n

Adrenaline Rush<\/em> is one of those albums which when it finishes will have you clicking the \u201cplay\u201d button immediately after for another fix. For a hot-wired, multi-layered hard rock extravaganza then one cannot look past this brilliant album.<\/p>\n

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

WICKED SENSATIONAdrenaline Rush AOR Heaven (2014)Rating: 9\/10 Apparently named after Lynch Mob\u2019s 1990 debut opus Wicked Sensation, this German-based combo plies its trade by constructing catchy heavy rock which features strong vocals and a solid rhythm section. Wicked Sensation is very much the brainchild of guitarist Michael Klein, who over the years has seen a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1639],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-wicked-sensation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23910","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=23910"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23915,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23910\/revisions\/23915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}