JURAYA – Break Away (2017)
I don’t know why, but seeing the band name JURAYA I was immediately transported to the ’80s, and my intuition proved not wrong after listening to “Break Away“. Lovely classic Melodic Rock sounds abound through these charming, bright songs.
Juraya are from Berne, Switzerland, founded several years ago by experienced musicians from the central Europe rock scene who have all previously proved their musical talents by playing in other bands such as Up in Smoke, Aladdin, Change, Atlantis Airport, Tuff Stuff and Melrose, all acts still popular and well-remembered throughout Switzerland and abroad.
Each musician contributes different experiences and skills, gained from multiple concerts and international tours.
Juraya has played as supporting act for the likes of Rick Springfield, Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big), Michael Schenker (Scorpions, UFO), Saga, The Sweet, Uriah Heep, Krokus and many others.
Despite their Swiss origin, Juraya’s brand of elegant Melodic Rock has more in common with Scandinavian acts from the second half of the ’80s.
The song ‘Break Away’ embodies all the magic we all love from this genre, then ‘Places’ flirts with AOR with its terrific chorus and cadence.
A title song ‘SummerSong” says it all; this is a summertime-ready feel-good number catchy as Hell, while ‘Separate Ways’ (not the Journey song) is one of my favorites with its timeless chorus, keyboards and layers of harmony vocals.
Midtempo ‘Hold On’ bring to mind Terra Nova early albums, the rocking ‘The Piper’ has some American touches ala 7th Heaven, then ‘Offer My Soul’ has some Bad Habit on its catchy structure and skillful guitar solo.
Maybe you remember the highly enjoyable side project of Fred Hendrix (Terra Nova) called Aquila, combining pop with melodic rock, well, ‘Say Goodbye’ is in this vein with a great vocal work by lead singer Peter Urfer.
The atmospheric yet quite rocking ‘Blue Lies’ has some of Blue Tears-like patterns, while midtempo / partially ballad ‘The Search Is Over’ (not a Survivor cover) is really elegant with a fantastic AOR chorus resembling the glory days of Canadian AOR.
‘Pictures’ is a dynamic melodic rocker recalling Last Autumn’s Dream, and there’s another superb version of this song completely re-worked in a ballad mode with lovely synths / piano in the background.
‘Secrets Of Love’ offers more stylized melodic rock, whilst ‘Dance’ is a palatable slow midtempo AOR tune including acoustics (I found a little Tyketto here), and again, that unique ’80s feel.
I can’t recommend you Juraya enough… this is a terrific slice of pure Melodic Rock with AOR touches, plenty of enchanting choruses, greatly done harmony vocals and a warm, very sweet polished production.
Yes, You’ve seen it first here, at 0dayrox, always digging deep in the musical sphere bringing to you the best from the musical genres we all love.
01 – Break Away
02 – Places
03 – Summersong
04 – Separate Ways
05 – Hold On
06 – The Piper
07 – Offer My Soul
08 – Pictures (AOR version)
09 – Say Goodbye
10 – Blue Lies
11 – The Search Is Over
12 – Secrets Of Love
13 – Pictures
14 – Dance
Peter Urfer: vocals
Gian Carlos Monn: guitars, keyboards
Jurg Bill: bass
Adrian Forrer, Thomas Waelti: drums
BUY IT !
juraya.com/
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