Chasing Violets: Jade Hearts

Sarah and Mélissa Fontaine are the core members of Chasing Violets and have surrounded themselves with the best musicians from the AOR scene like Frédéric Slama, Tommy Denander (everyone), Paul Sabu (Kidd Glove), Göran Edman (Yngwie Malmsteen), Mikael Erlandsson (Last Autumn's Dream), Bob Harris (Axe) as well as members of Alien, Hardline and Lionville. According to their people, "With this new album, Chasing Violets will take you to melodic perfection with a sexy edge, killer songs, angelic vocals and unforgettable solos. Jade Hearts is the perfect illustration of what pure AOR is all about." Lofty claims and one which I'm afraid to report are somewhat wide of the mark. Jade Hearts is by no means bad but equally it isn't, "melodic perfection," either.

There are some excellent slabs of melodic rock on Jade Hearts notably "Web of Lies" yet much of the album is AOR-by-the-numbers which seems to be the case with many releases in this genre at the moment. Too many tracks are too long and appear to only exist to showcase the guitar talents of what one assumes to be Tommy Denander. Criminally there are points where the vocals are flat out awful and by flat, I really do mean flat. "A Shot In The Dark" is the main culprit and I can only assume that producer Frédéric Slama encouraged one of the Fontaines (I know not which) to summon up her inner Tina Turner and I for one wish he hadn't. A definite disappointment.

Track Listing:
1 The Main Attraction 04:42
2 Web Of Lies 05:25
3 A Shot In The Dark 05:51
4 Silent Victory 05:22
5 Deception In Heaven 06:47
6 Jade Hearts 04:57
7 Secrets In The Shadows 05:36
8 Hollow Triumph 05:00
9 Exile In Sadness 04:51
10 The Scarlet Nymph 07:10
11 Halo Of Light 03:41
12 I Owe It to Myself

Added: May 21st 2013
Reviewer: Simon Bray
Score:
Related Link: Band Facebook Page
Hits: 1905
Language: english

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