KHYMERA – A New Promise (2005) HQ + Japanese bonus track
320_1 /// 320_2 /// HQ 1 /// HQ 2
Italy’s Frontiers Records has made a practice of creating numerous AOR / melodic hard rock studio projects with varying degrees of success. One of the better ones is KHYMERA, which began in 2003 as a union between multi-instrumentalist Daniele Liverani (Empty Tremor and the Genius rock operas) and Kansas vocalist Steve Walsh.
As requested, here’s KHYMERA sophomore effort, 2005’s “A New Promise“. And if the debut album was very good, this is even better.
For this second KHYMERA installment, Liverani called super talented Dennis Ward – best known as the bassist in the German melodic hard rock band Pink Cream 69 – to provide lead vocals (the rest of personnel include drummer Dario Ciccioni and guitarist Tommy Ermolli).
Yeah, “A New Promise” was Dennis Ward first full album singing, , and folks, even though he’s never handled lead vocals in any of his previous projects, Ward surprised everyone with a voice built to rock – think Jeff Scott Soto meets PC69 singer David Readman.
The album’s 13 tracks are penned by such renowned songwriters as Soto and Don Barnes. The surprising result is something much more aggressive and powerful than Khymera’s self-titled debut with Walsh. In fact, if you dig PC69, you’ll probably dig songs like “Let It Burn,” “Looking For You,” “You Can’t Take Me,” “Fields of Fire” and “All Is Gone.”
”A New Promise” is slickly produced and meticulously mixed, serving very well performed Melodic Rock / AOR in the style of Giant meets Pink Cream – you can’t go wrong here. It is worth a listen for Dennis Ward’s vocal debut alone.
Highly Recommended
01 – A New Promise
02 – Alone
03 – Let It Burn
04 – Looking For You
05 – All That I Have
06 – The Damage Is Done
07 – After The Way
08 – You Can’t Take Me
09 – Tomorrow Never Comes
10 – Fields Of Fire
11 – If You Dare To Dream
12 – Give In To The World
13 – All Is Gone
+
Japanese Edition Bonus Track:
14 – If You Dare To Dream (Acoustic Version)
Dennis Ward – Vocals
Tommy Ermolli – Guitars
Daniele Liverani – Keyboards, Bass
Dario Ciccioni – Drums
Out of Print
