Weers, Oliver: Evil's Back

Coming from the UK as I do, any artist who has come to prominence through "reality" shows such as "The X-Factor", usually means middle of the road, safe pop, or what these days (wrongly) passes for R&B. Venture outside of the evil clutches of Simon Cowell though and some of these shows do actually unearth talents of interest to rock fans. Take for example Oliver Weers, who shot to fame in his homeland of Denmark through his performance of Queen's "The Show Must Go On" on that country's "X-Factor" for proof that not everyone who enrols for these shows wants to be pop-clone. Released in September of 2008, Weers's debut effort Get Ready featured such genuine rock heavyweights as Tommy Aldridge (Ozzy, Whitesnake), Marco Mendoza (Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy) and Soren Andersen (Mike Tramp) and was a surprisingly decent slab of heavy melodic rock.

Having supported Motley Crue and Whitesnake as they toured across Europe, Weers returns for album number two with a new band and a slightly different sound. Backed this time by Laki Ragazas and Anders Bo on guitar, Anders Borre on bass and drummer Morten Hell Born, Evil's Back is a more aggressive slice of metal than its more melodic predecessor. The guitars are big and beefy, with modern riffs and thundering rhythms adding a real thump to the songs and vocally Weers is as commanding as ever. The problem is though that the songs just aren't as memorable or vibrant as they should be. The strongest of the bunch are "Without You", which is strongly reminiscent of Kiss around the time of Revenge or Carnival Of Souls, the marching whack to the head of "Devil's Chain" and lively rock of "Demolition Man". However all too often the other songs come and go without leaving a lasting impression and while it would be vastly unfair to suggest that anything on this album is bad, there's just too much of it that is, well....ok.

All of the musicians involved give a good account of themselves and as I've already said Weers is a more than capable singer (although I do think the more melodic style he worked within before was a better fit for his voice), but sometimes that just isn't enough to raise a set of songs above the ordinary.

If you really liked Weers vocal delivery on his debut album, but yearned for a harder hitting approach, then you may well find Evil's Back to be a step in the right direction, but for those who really enjoyed Get Ready, then I have a funny feeling you may be left slightly disappointed.

Track Listing
1. Intro
2. Evils Back
3. All My Life
4. Without You
5. Hero
6. Need It Bad
7. Beautiful Rain
8. Much Too Much
9. Fighting The Mountains
10. Devil's Chain
11. Demolition Man
12. Rainbow Star

Added: February 14th 2011
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Oliver Weers MySpace
Hits: 2147
Language: english

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