CRANSTON – CranstoN (2016)

Named after his hometown in Rhode Island, CRANSTON is the new project in the never ending Phil Vincent musical story. Teaming up with melodic rock icon Paul Sabu to co-write the songs, Vincent is at charge of vocals only, while Sabu plays all instruments, excepting drums, and produced the album.

Phil Vincent is a clever musician: he needed a little change after his former bands Legion, Tragik, solo, and it’s a really good thing that he’s now concentrated fully on lead vocals / harmonies.
And the partnership with Paul Sabu worked wonderfully, as Sabu itself has been benefited as well from an outsider contributor like Vincent, and has co-penned & played here some of his best stuff from the last fifteen years.

Both musicians have proven their talents and skills over the years, and the consistency remains here, whether it’s Vincent or Sabu. Both were at their best in their careers when crafted classic melodic hard rock in an AOR wrapper.
And this is the case with Cranston; sharp, a bit heavy at places, ’80s influenced classic melodic material. Big vocals and vocal harmonies, catchy melodies, nice hooks in the arrangements and refrains, plenty of groove and, of course, brisk guitar riffs and slick solos.
All this with Vincent at the helm of the Cranston ship. Like I said, it’s what Vincent and Sabu do. It’s inherent, second nature as it were.

There’s solid numbers in ‘Fallen’, ‘Unwanted’, the slightly funky ‘Long Long Way To Go’, the pure Eighties ‘See You On The Other Side’ and also ‘Queen Of The Pain’ with its persistent cow bell. Yeah, you read right. How ’80s is that?
It’s also to say there are no ballads here, it’s all about to rock. The closest thing may be ‘Sea Of Madness’, but it also has a deep bottom end.
Actually, there isn’t anything inherently tame about any song on this album.
Plain and simple CranstoN is simple and effective melodic hard rock. And recommended.

01 – Long, Long Way to Go
02 – You Oughta Know
03 – See You on the Other Side
04 – Trouble Ahead
05 – Fallen
06 – Queen of the Pain
07 – Let It Go
08 – Sea of Madness
09 – Hangin’ On
10 – Unwanted

Phil Vincent – Lead and Background Vocals
Paul Sabu – Guitars, Bass, Keyboards, Backing Vocals
B.F. D’Ercole – Drums

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