ALYSON AVENUE

CHANGES

Released 2011

I was a fan of Alyson Avenue before vocalist Anette Olzen was poached by Nightwish a few years back. AA was a band with a long history but had only released their first CD back in 2000, and both that release ‘Presence of Mind’ and 2004’s ‘Omega’ were solid melodic Rock outings.  I honestly thought that these guys had called it a day, so its great to see a new release with new vocalist Arabella Vitanc.

Changes in fact has a lot going for it. And Anette even guests on backing vocals, but it’s the production of the swiftly becoming ubiquitous Chris Laney, and slots from  Michael Bormann and the gifted Rob Marcello that really help things along. Vitanic has a great voice and there’s variety here from power ballards to pop, but thankfully largely rock and still with the melody you would associate with the band.

This won’t blow you away but it will please fans, and lovers of melodic rock, and it does have a few gems in there. Laney’s production, as usual is clean and crisp and beautifully done. I like the heavier sounds of ‘Fallen’ and opener ‘Liar’ but in truth it’s the rest of the album that sounds more like the older material. Even the light-weight AOR of ‘Don't Know If Love Is Alive’ is bearable in context. My favourites though would have to be the big hook of ‘Changes’ itself, though the Vitanc/Boorman duet ‘Will I Make Love’ is great too. Best of all has to be ‘Into the Fire’ – pure gold!

Welcome back!

By Mark Diggins