Rawk Roundup – Stormbringer vs. Niva vs. Brett Walker

Rawk Roundup – Stormbringer vs. Niva vs. Brett Walker

STORMBRINGER
MMXIII
Transcend Music

Coming out of nowhere, driving like rain, here comes the debut album from Stormbringer.

The abd got together in 2011, and features current and ex-members of Viking Skull, Deadeye, Nekkrosis, Zoot Allures, Narkan and The Calling. So I was a tad surprised to hear this, as it’s fairly conventional mainstream, modern post-grunge. Well they do say never judge a book by its cover.

After the instrumental opening, it’s straight into the mellow melodicism of ‘Gazing At The Grave’, another song that belies its name. In fact, for an album chock full of songs with names like ‘Destroy’ and ‘Grinder’, it’s rather lacking in metal. The latter is one of the better songs on the album, along with ‘Darker Days’, which is a dark and heavy tune, unlike closer ‘Welcome To Hell’, which lets the side down badly, bearing in mind the other song that bears that name.

Once you get past your expectations, it’s a good record, but don’t come here looking for the metal.

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NIVA
Magnitude
AOR Heaven

An AOR band, fronted by Swedish musician, Tony Niva. I’d never heard of him, but this is the third Niva album in twenty years, so he’s heading into Boston territory with a workrate like that.

And it’s a good album. There are some cracking eighties styled keyboard hooks that really do remind you of the classic days of melodic rock. He’s got a strong voice and is really at his best when he rocks out a bit. Having said that, fans of the power ballad will find plenty to enjoy here.

It sounds great, and has a strong production, so when the best songs – like ‘Never Too Late’ and ‘Always Somewhere’ – happen along, then it makes for a very enjoyable listening experience. If you’re a fan of Swedish melodic rock and AOR, then this is definitely for your shopping list.

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BRETT WALKER
Straight Jacket Vacation
AOR Heaven

Whatever I say about this record is going to be overwhelmed by the passing of Brett Walker, a few weeks before the album was due to be released. His family were asked what they wanted to be done, and they agreed that the album should come out as scheduled.

Most people will know him as the writer of ‘Waiting For Love’, recorded by Alias, and the US power ballad of the early nineties. It was huge, and it’s here in a new version. As a young man, he was active on the LA session scene, working with the likes of Tane (wife of Jonathan) Cain and Nick Gilder, as well as working at Disneyland!

Later years found him working alongside Jonathan Cain, Jim Peterik, Jeff Paris, John Purdell and others, along with a sporadic solo career. Come 2012, he hooked up with some of his old colleagues to record this record, so Mugs Cain, Timothy Drury, Jim Peterik and Jeff Paris all put in appearances on what is a very good album. It’s a record that could easily have come from the heyday of the early eighties, and on songs like ‘Reaching For The Stars’, ‘Better Than Goodbye’ and ‘Someday I’m Gonna Be Famous’, you can hear the talent that Brett possessed.

On 9th July 2013, it was announced that Brett had suddenly passed away, and this serves as a worthy musical epitaph.

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