CoreLeoni – Live At Hallenstadion Zurich (2025) *HQ*
320_1 /// 320_2 /// HQ 1 /// HQ 2
The world is getting pale, leaves are falling, rain and fog are the only constants at the weather forecast: who wouldn’t suffer from autumn blues every now and then under these circumstances? But don’t worry as Swiss based hard rock quintet CoreLeoni have come to deliver the perfect antidote for everyone.
Tomorrow the band – Gotthard guitarist Leo Leoni, phenomenal singer Eugent Bushpepa, guitarist Jgor Gianola (ex- Gotthard, ex- U.D.O.) as well as the pumping rhythm section (Mila Merker on bass & Alex Motta on drums) – will release their brand new live album, “Live at Hallenstadion Zurich”.
“Live at Hallenstadion Zurich” was recorded on July 3, 2025 at their show supporting the mighty JUDAS PRIEST and comprises 9 electrifying tracks. Including both covers of the rich GOTTHARD catalogue and tracks from “III”, CoreLeoni’s first original effort which came out in early 2022, this new recording is essential rock ‘n’ roll: raw yet heavily rocking.
“Live at Hallenstadion Zurich” benefits for being short – 38 minutes – to the point, hard rockers for the soul, played with passion and very well recorded.
Musically speaking, CoreLeoni ‘live’ have a strong taste of DIO’s solo career, most notably 1987’s “Dream Evil.” Eugent Bushpepa’s tone of voice addresses a lot to Dio’s when performing live. Take a look at “Firedance,” for instance to check what we mean. Or the main guitar riff of “Standing In The Light.”
That’s why we do not agree with the Hard Rock label given to the band. From where I am standing this is Old School Heavy Metal. Hard Rock needs more Rock and Blues features to be so. Ok, album first blood “Sister Moon” does start with some bluesy features, but it’s only that. All along the album the musical structures here are mostly pure classic Heavy Metal with melody.
“Live at Hallenstadion” captures well the essence of the crowd present at the show. Interestingly, or ironically, CoreLeoni were at home in Zurich’s Hallenstadion that night, but they were the support band for Heavy Metal legends Judas Priest, in front of 7,000 rock and metal fans. So this should be one of the few live albums released that was captured with the band in question not being headliner.
By the way, grand finale “Here Comes The Heat” is a kind of homage to the Priest‘s “Defenders of the Faith’s” era.
“Live at Hallenstadion” is a pretty killer live album with lots of raw energy, perfectly performed and recorded.
Highly Recommended
01 – Sister Moon (Live at Hallenstadion)
02 – Standing In The Light (Live at Hallenstadion)
03 – Downtown (Live at Hallenstadion)
04 – Like It Or Not (Live at Hallenstadion)
05 – Sick And Tired (Live at Hallenstadion)
06 – Mountain Mama (Live at Hallenstadion)
07 – Firedance (Live at Hallenstadion)
08 – She Goes Down (Live at Hallenstadion)
09 – Here Come The Heat (Live at Hallenstadion)
Leo Leoni – guitar
Eugent Bushpepa – vocals
Jgor Gianola – guitar
Mila Merker – bass
Alex Motta – drums
Pre order;
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FTP1SM88/
