5th AVENUE – Last Greetings From The Petting Zoo (2016)

“Last Greetings From The Petting Zoo” is the new album for Hamburg-based six-piece 5TH AVENUE, in fact, it’s their first full length ever. Honestly, I never heard about 5th Avenue before despite the band was formed at the end of the ’80s, but there’s a reason.

The Hamburg band 5th Avenue formed in 1989 and built up a number of faithful fans in their home town within a very short space of time. They were one of the first bands ever to play the very first Wacken Open Air – now one of the biggest metal festival in the world – and as they went down so well with the audience, they were invited to come back and perform at Wacken several times.

In 1994 5th Avenue signed a record deal with Dream Circle Records / Polydor. The band went off to the States to record their debut album in the legendary Goodnight LA Studios, produced by Roger Summers, an absolute sensation for the still very young band from Hamburg.
Their first single ‘Luka’ went down well straight away with several radio stations and climbed to top spots in many listeners charts. But the full album never got released. At the end of 1996 the band split up.

In 2012 5th Avenue decided to finally return to the stage and reform with a new line up.
The band started to work hard into the studio rehearsing the songs from the lost tapes put down all those years ago in the States, and laying down new tracks s well to finally perform to their many loyal and more recently acquired fans.
They released an EP with some songs, but now re-recorded all ’em all with better production and plus new compositions the result is this “Last Greetings From The Petting Zoo”.

Apart of never have been listened about 5th Avenue before, I must admit their album “Last Greetings From The Petting Zoo” kept waiting for a proper listen since a couple weeks ago… mostly because its cover artwork.
At first glance you think about some black metal, isn’t it? The old adage comes again… never judge an album by its cover.

Truth is that “Last Greetings From The Petting Zoo” is pure early Nineties Melodic Rock with an ’80s AOR touch here and there. Just check opener ‘Rough Affair’ (the video version is slightly different).
There’s a more current Swedish sound in ‘Civilized In Harmony’, a touch of American groove in ‘Easier Said Than Done’ akin Ugly Kid Joe, a poppy melody in ‘Love Hate’, while ‘Ocean’ is a fine midtempo.
They even add a bluesy pinch to ‘Satellite’ and a classic rock feel in ‘Destiny’.

Never is too late when you fight for what you want and finally see the project crystallized. It took many years to 5th Avenue to get their first album on CD, but well worth the wait.
“Last Greetings From The Petting Zoo” is a very nice, melodious, clean Melodic Rock album easy to the ears, with some really good – some infectious I’d say – songs to boot.
Don’t be fooled by the cover!

01 – Rough Affair
02 – Civilized In Harmony
03 – Easier Said Than Done
04 – Remedy
05 – Mrs. Strong
06 – Love Hate
07 – Legend Of A Postman
08 – Ocean
09 – Save The Day
10 – Satellite
11 – Insane
12 – Destiny

Vocals – Oliver Peters
Bass – Adrian Marx
Guitar – Marc Baumgart
Guitar – Jonathan Schwenzer
Keyboards – Ansas Strehlow
Drums – Steven Bal

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www.emp.co.uk/art_341370/
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