State Of Rock: A Point Of Destiny

If there is an award for the hardest worker in rock music, then Tony Mills must be one of the candidates. Currently he is fronting TNT, he's returned to sing with the ever under rated Shy and in 2008 he released a fantastic solo album Vital Designs. Add to that releasing albums with China Blue, The Andersson Mills Project, Acacia Avenue, Voices Of Rock, Dale and the forthcoming Serpentine disc (I've probably forgotten at least one!) and his output rate has been incredible. What is even more impressive is that every one of those projects has seen Tony put in phenomenal performances and even if TNT's current path is not to everyone's taste, the actual standard of these releases has been incredibly high. So, unbelievable as it may appear, Mills has found time to become involved with three ex members of Frontline to form the band (not project) State Of Rock. The outfit came together when guitarist Bobby Boebel and Metal Heaven supremo Georg Siegl started thinking about how best to use Boebel's guitar talents for a new project. After recruiting his ex Frontline band mates Hutch Bauer (bass) and Rami Ali (drums), the only piece of the puzzle left to find was a voice capable of bringing the fantastic tracks put together by Boebel to life. Via an introduction from Siegl, Tony Mills was added to the line up and the band's intention to create a sound that contained 75% Frontline and 25% Shy came to fruition.

Even considering how classy most of Mills' releases have been in recent years, I can state right now that this is up there with, if not the best of the lot. Boebel has written a collection of melodic rock songs that ooze quality at every turn. The mixture of Frontline and Shy promised, has been delivered in spades and when the music is as vibrant and distinguished as that contained within A Point Of Destiny it's impossible not to be mightily impressed. Boebel, Bauer and Ali never put a foot wrong and Mills is at the peak of his powers.

It's genuinely difficult to choose highlights when the overall quality is so consistently high, however "Black & Blue", "Freedom" and "Somewhere" are all perfect examples of classic up tempo melodic rockers. Boebel's guitar work is faultless and Mills sound so comfortable hitting notes that most singers can only hear in their dreams. Looking for a little variation? Then blast out "Friction" with its Scorpions like spiralling riff, or the slower stomp of "A Point Of Destiny". If ballads are your style then there's the TNT meets Whitesnake of "Don't Make Me Cry" . I could go on, but by now it would be fair to suggest that it's pretty obvious that this is just a fantastic CD from start to finish.

The best news of all is that as mentioned above, State Of Rock are a full blown band who are looking to play live dates and follow A Point Of Destiny with future releases. I for one hope we don't have to wait too long for part two to appear, as I'm ready for more right now. In the mean time I'll just have to play A Point Of Destiny over and over! Put quite simply, this is brilliant.

Track Listing
1. Black & Blue
2. Without My Love
3. Heartless Dreamer
4. Don't Make Me Cry
5. Hanging In The Balance
6. Freedom
7. Count Me Out
8. A Point Of Destiny
9. Friction
10. Somewhere

Added: January 8th 2010
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Tony Mills @ Wikipedia
Hits: 4314
Language: english

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