AMBOAJE – All About Living (2016)

Blessed with a name that’s rather hard to pronounce, AMBOAJE is the vehicle for vocalist / songwriter Toni Amboaje, an award winning Spanish songwriter and a finalist in the 2012 edition of The Voice. His debut album “All About Living” was released some time ago by Melodic Rock Records but hasn’t gotten that much attention and I don’t understand why, because what we have here is a so-called ”complete package”.
Great, catchy songs, up-to-date production… and when it comes to marketing, it doesn’t hurt that the vocalist is good-looking bloke. Not so sure about the band name though.
Anyway, now it’s being distributed in the USA by Global Music Group, and really worth to ckeck this very melodic 12-track CD.

Let’s take a look at the songs on “All About Living”: ‘Over And Over Again’ starts the album and does it very well. It’s a very catchy song, with a Daughtry feel in their more melodic rock side, or the kind of stuff Bon Jovi should be writing these days, instead of whiny ballads. Great hook and a the kind of a groove that’ll make you want to tap your feet.
The title track follows with a modern sound and an instant (running time 2:50) contagious chorus and driven guitars.
The mid tempo ‘Rise & Fall With You’ is another potential hit single and the Y2K Bon Jovi comparisons come up again. They just rarely release songs as good as this one these days.

Fourth cut ‘Able’ adding acoustics to the mix could be the band’s hit ballad and it kind of reminds me of Gotthard. The party is kickstarted again with ‘Gotta Be A Good Girl’, a bouncy melodic rocker with a big hook and a big beat.
And then it’s time for slow-dancing again with ‘Something To Say’, a very traditional rock ballad. I like it but I prefer the uptempo stuff, the next song ‘Five Years Gone’ for example. Someone like Nickelback or Sunrise Avenue could turn this into a monster hit.

The biggest surprise of the album is ‘Give Me The Real Thing’, a very country-flavoured uptempo track in the vein of the last Rick Springfield, with a power pop heart. ‘It’s Always You’ is another ballad, a nice, gentle duet with female singer Paula Rojo.
‘Feels Like Saturday Night’ has some 2000’s Def Leppard touch especially on the huge choruses and the breaks dome by the guitar riff, and I like this a lot.
The last two songs are both balladic ones, being ‘My Heart is Strong’ a midtempo with a Bryan Adams seal on it, the for ‘Once’ Amboaje pick up the acoustic guitar for an acoustic slow piece.

Toni Amboaje sings very well and it’s a consummate songwriter – he was part of Sauze and melodic hard rockers Hard Spirit which released a quite good CD years ago – and this debut with his own band Amboaje is really solid on every aspect.
This is a very nice collection of uptempo melodic rock, heavenly rock ballads and pop-tinged AOR sprinkled along the way with a few modern influences as well, all packed with strong production values and a great sound.
Quite Recommended.

01 – Over and Over Again
02 – All About Living
03 – Rise & Fall with You
04 – Able
05 – Five Years Gone
06 – Gotta Be A Good Girl
07 – Something to Say
08 – Give Me The Real Thing
09 – It’s Always You (with Paula Rojo)
10 – Feels Like Saturday Night
11 – My Heart is Strong
12 – Once

Toni Amboaje (vocals, guitar)
Ruben Alvarez (guitar)
Luis Melero (bass)
Alejandro Banco (drums)
Santi Novoa (keyboards)
Ruth Suarez, Alvaro Barcena (backing vocals)
Paula Rojo (duet lead vocals on 9)

BUY IT !
www.nehrecords.com/Shop/AmboajeAll.htm
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