WAKE THE NATIONS – Sign Of Heart (2015)
*
Melodic Rock / AOR fans of all time surely remember Human Temple, the Finnish band which released seome very good albums during the past ten years. Founder member guitarist Risto Tuominen now returns with a new project called WAKE THE NATIONS and its debut CD entitled “Sign Of Heart“.
The album features many guest musicians and vocalists, including bandmate in Human Temple Janne Hurme on several tracks.
Each track reveals different facets mostly due the variation of lead singers, but basically “Sign Of Heart” it’s a traditional Scandinavian Melodic Rock / AOR disc with strong ’80s / early ’90s influenced sounds.
From the typical Scandi AOR of opener “Fairytale Romance”, through the more mainstream Euro Rock (“This Feeling”) to some modern sounding West Coast like the song “Love Distracts The Senses” (featuring a great vocal work by Human Temple’s Janne Hurme), every parcel of this easy listening genre is covered with success, enhanced by some sing along catchy hooks and contagious chorus.
Some tracks are built in a massive keyboard driven direction like the uptempo “Love Leads The Way”, others are more guitar oriented (the solid riff-based “So Broken”), while some are clearly crafted in a commercial targeting purpose, such as the radio / arena ready “All I Want”.
Masterminded by Risto Tuominen – a talented guitar ‘orchestrator’ – WAKE THE NATIONS delivers a bunch of instantly adorable songs spawning Melodic Rock, AOR, West Coast and some Melodic Hard melodies all in one disc.
This kind of diversity is a double edge sword because it’s not easy to create a mental picture of the sonics on this “Sign Of Heart”, but if you love the entire Melodic Rock spectre (with a Scandinavian sound), there’s something for everyone here.
And all truly enjoyable.
Easily Recommended.
01. Fairytale Romance
02. The Touch Of Your Hand
03. All I Want
04. So Broken
05. Love Distracts The Senses
06. This Feeling
07. Sea Of Emptiness
08. Love Leads The Way
09. Until The End Of Time
10. Who Am I
Risto Tuominen – Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals
Janne “Gekko” Granfors – Bass
Jori Tojander – Keyboards
Tuomas Pelli – Drums
Guests:
Janne Hurme (Human Temple) – vocals track 5, 7, 8, 9
Dado Topic (Time) – vocals track 6
Estef Martinez (Insider) – vocals track 3, 7
Taage Laiho (Ghost Machinery) – vocals track 2
Krister Stenbom (Villa Sucka) – vocals track 1, 4
Nils Nordling (Dirge Eternal) – vocals track 8
Timo Pelander (Finlanders) – guitar solos track 2, 9
Jari Pailamo (No Man’s Land) – keyboard solo track 2
Kalle Saarinen (Clayskin) – drums track 7, 9
BUY IT !
www.levykauppax.fi/artist/wake_the_nations/sign_of_heart/#cd
.
