Palace: One 4 the Road

Palace, or rather that should be Swede Michael Palace returns to the Melodic Rock fray with his...wait for it, fourth album, and one that hopefully builds on his previous releases.

This is what you can really call a `one man show` as Palace handles all the instrumentation, song writing, AND production duties. `Fifteen Minutes` opens proceeding and is an uplifting tune that whilst not tearing up any trees is a most palatable listen. A catchy, poppy chorus that quickly moved on to the more muscular `Westbound` which brought to mind the likes of Richard Marx, particularly in the vocal department, and is another song in possession of an irritatingly snappy chorus.

The majority of the album sticks to this (winning) formula for the most part. `Money Can Kill` has a vibe that’s straight from the days of 80`s Melodic Rock, and the ballad...when is there going to be a Melodic Rock album without one?? Comes in the shape of `The Driver` and has to these ears hints at a Country/AOR crossover which is quite fashionable these days I believe.

Palace seems to have an excellent ear for a hook, and the majority of the material plays to this strength, the album does occasionally get bogged a little with the likes of` World Gone Mad` and `Living The Life` which are a little too generic for me, but thats more than made up for with the inventive `Time Crisis` and tempting `Facing the Music`.

Overall, a successful stab at modern Melodic Rock/AOR without having resort to the tired clichés that inhabit a lot of this genre these days, and It’s the `Pop` influences that Palace has developed that makes this album for the most part work really well.

Track Listing
1. Fifteen Minutes
2.Westbound
3.Too Old For This
4.Money Can Kill
5.The Driver
6.Time Crisis
7.Facing The Music
8.World Gone Mad
9.Living The Life
10.Cancel The Flight
11.Loneliest Night

Added: July 10th 2022
Reviewer: Malcolm Smith
Score:
Related Link: Band Facebook Page
Hits: 396
Language: english

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