“Eye of the Storm” is the second album from the studio project BRAZEN ABBOT masterminded by the multi-talented guitarist and producer Nikolo Kotzev, together with three members from the original EUROPE line-up and a set of singers second to none.
Originally released in 1996 on the German label USG Records, “Eye of the Storm” sees the addition of the awesome singer Joe Lynn Turner to the line-up performing on 4 songs, which already included Göran Edman (5 tracks), and Thomas Vikström (2 tracks).
Long time out of print, now Frontiers Music brings this fresh 2024 reissue of this stellar melodic hard rock platter.
Brazen Abbot was originally conceived as a studio project by Nikolo Kotzev. The band has since performed live on several occasions, particularly in the early 2000’s.
A unique feature of Brazen Abbot is its use of multiple singers on each album. Göran Edman and Joe Lynn Turner have contributed with vocals on most of their records. Initially, Kotzev planned to work with a single vocalist, Göran Edman (ex-Malmsteen) but, due to contractual restrictions, he could only record a few songs for the debut album. The “Voice of Rock” Glenn Hughes was then lined up to sing the remaining tracks, but similar issues limited him to three songs.
To complete that first album, Thomas Vikström (Talk of the Town and later on Therion) was brought in, and Kotzev was so satisfied with the outcome that he decided to continue the multi-singer approach for future albums.
However, during live performances, Joe Lynn Turner (ex-Malmsteen, Rainbow, Deep Purple) usually handled all lead vocals.
Turner shines on songs like “Twist Of Fate”, “Line Of Fire”, and “Road To Hell”, all tunes especially written for his unique pipes, while the Europe influence courtesy of Ian Haugland – drums / Mic Michaeli – organs / John Leven – bass, can be found in “Wake Up Everybody”, with a great vocal performance from Thomas Vikström.
Göran Edman also appears on lead vocals stamping his mark especially on the power-ballad “Everything’s Gonna Be Allright”.
The album cemented the reputation that Brazen Abbot managed to achieve with their first LP and offers a truly brilliant melodic hard rock collection for all the fans of the genre rejoice.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
01 – Eye Of The Storm (Joe Lynn Turner, vocals)
02 – Twist Of Fate (Joe Lynn Turner, vocals)
03 – Fool In Love (Göran Edman, vocals)
04 – Line Of Fire (Joe Lynn Turner, vocals)
05 – Wake Up Everybody (Thomas Vikström, vocals)
06 – Everything’s Gonna Be Allright (Göran Edman, vocals)
07 – Common People (Göran Edman, vocals)
08 – The Road To Hell (Joe Lynn Turner, vocals)
09 – Restless In Seattle (Göran Edman, vocals)
10 – Highway Cindy (Thomas Vikström, vocals)
11 – Devil’s Allegro (instrumental)
12 – I’ll Be There For You (Göran Edman, vocals)
Nikolo Kotzev – guitars, keyboards, piano, percussion, violin, bass
Ian Haugland – drums
Mic Michaeli – organs
John Leven – bass
Joe Lynn Turner – vocals on tracks 1, 2, 4, 8
Thomas Vikstrom – vocals on tracks 5, 10
Goran Edman – vocals on tracks 3, 6, 7, 9, 11
BRAZEN ABBOT – Eye Of The Storm [Frontiers Music Reissue] (2024)
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