CITY OF LIGHTS – Before The Sun Sets (2022)

CITY OF LIGHTS is a very interesting new melodic hard rock collaboration between British newcomer songwriter/guitarist Neil Austin and Greek AOR vocal sensation Manos Fatsis (Odyssey Desperado / Hideaway). On their debut album via Frontiers Music titled “Before The Sun Sets“, they deliver hard-edged melodic anthems driven by crunching riffs and lush keyboard textures combined with soaring, passion-filled vocal melodies.
The project was born when Austin, armed with a collection of songs inspired by the classic hard rock sounds of the ’80s and the new wave of current AOR bands, began the search for a vocalist who possessed the tone, range and emotion to take the songs to the next level. After hearing Fatsis’ work on Odyssey Desperado’s “Don’t Miss The Sunset” and Hideaway’s self-titled debut, he knew he had found the right man.

The two connected via Facebook and together began working on honing the songs to perfection. When the time came to find a rhythm section, Austin reached out to members of his favourite band, brothers Robin (bass) and Mats (drums) Eriksson from modern melodic rock monsters Degreed and after hearing the demos, both agreed to contribute to the album.
Guest guitar soloists Nathan Doyle, Daniel Johansson (Degreed), Christoffer Borg (Taste / ex-Art Nation), and Mike Kyriakou join in on the fun and the album also features appearances from Creye’s Joel Selfors (piano) and Degreed’s Mikael Blanc (keyboards).
Artwork is provided by art/design maestro Nello Dell’Omo and mixing/mastering duties will be handled by AOR producer extraordinaire Erik Gavfelin Wiss (Creye, Cruzh, Cap Outrun).

On the harder side of things, we find some really good melodic hard rockers in “Racing on the redline”, “Hearts on fire”, “Snake eyes ” and “Midnight club “, all mixing Euro & American style from the genre, at places bringing to mind Fair Warning, Tyketto, Lillian Axe, to name a few.
More AORish to the ear there’s “Emily “, the favorite “Heat of the night”, “Dying breed” and “Joanna”, all classy stuff very well recorded and produced by Swede Gavfelin with a clean sound.

This is a very strong debut from CITY OF LIGHTS, with solid songwriting and production design. Those who crave crunchy riffs, seductive melodies and bombastic choruses should check out this promising new band.
Highly Recommended

 

01 – Racing on the Redline
02 – Heart’s on Fire
03 – Emily
04 – Heat of the Night
05 – Dying Light
06 – Give Me Back My Heart
07 – Put Your Heart on the Line
08 – Snake Eyes
09 – Joanna
10 – Midnight Club
11 – How to Love
12 – Before the Sun Sets

Manos Fatsis: Lead Vocals
Neil Austin: Guitar, Backing Choirs, Programming
Robin Eriksson: Bass, Harmony Vocals
Mats Eriksson:D rums

Keyboard Solo: Mikael Blanc
Piano: Joel Selsfors
Wahwah Guitar: Matt Farmer
Guitar Solos: Nathan Doyle, Daniel Johansson, Jonathan Carlemar, Mike Kyriakou

 

Pre order
www.amazon.de/-/en/City-Lights/dp/B09KDW9F4V