and this is a really to find one: MYLAND‘s third album “Light Of A New Day” in its Japanese Edition, with different artwork and which bonus track is the title track, curiously not present on the regular European release.
For this second album, the Italy, Milan based Melodic Rock band has undergone several lineup changes, with only founding member drummer Paolo Morbini and guitarist Hox Martino remaining from the original.
New singer Franco Campanella is pretty different from the previous Steve Perry-influenced Guido Priori. His vocals has a more gravely, raspy style. If fact, Myland has changed their style a bit here. The lush, melodic guitars from their debut CD now are more balanced with power chords and harder edged solos.
But what has remained untouched are the layered vocal harmonies, the keyboard runs and the outstanding punchy drums of band founder Paul Morbini.
The ‘new’ Myland starts things off with “Living in the Magic” that does offer a fancy keyboard work, solid guitar lines, big vocals and harmonies. Next, “Love Hurts So Bad” is en earlier Journey influenced track with tempo changes and a pre-chorus section with interesting piano lines. A favorite.
“Never Care for the Future” is a midtempo melodic rocker with a lackluster run in its delivery and the band left on track layers of various musical instruments and voices.
“Flying Higher” is more straight-forward structurally, with a true melodic hard rock vibe, and the thumping bass adds a great touch. It benefits from having a bigger chorus and cohesive guitar / keyboard interplay.
Then we have “Light of a New Day”, the Japanese bonus track. Now this is strange: how you leave the album’s title track out of the regular release? And it’s a solid melodic rocker with some epicness on it.
A soft piano opens the ballad “In Your Eyes”. One can picture lighters being held high overhead as this track is played live. It can be wondered, that if here, the higher vocals of original vocalist Priori might have better suited this track, as his voice would have soared high and above the music, as Campanella seems to be outside of his comfort zone in the higher octaves.
“Dancing In The Moonlight” is one of the highlights on the album. A contagious classic European melodic rock tune with a strong and easy to remember chorus. Very good layered vocals and parping keyboards.
Next, another great track.”Never Stop Screaming Rock” is pure melodic hard rock featuring a great rousing chorus, keyboards that fit right in, and power crunchy chords that drove this track forward. Very Good.
“Hey You” a has a more ’90s classic bluesy hard rock sound, and here is where Campanella’s raspy and powerful throat sound in full force. Good guitar work and keyboard job. This track reminds me of 21 Guns.
Another fav of mine is “Shattered Dreams”, that’s because this is a pure modern AOR track, with a smooth vibe and excellent musicianship. In my opinion, the best arranged song of the CD.
“Fire Burns Desire” is the track that that harkens back to Myland’s early years, this is a very retro melodic rock / AOR with backing vocals set to the max. “Wherever You Go” is another ballad, but this time more 21st Century in terms of songwriting, with a slightly Scandinavian sound. Campanella’s vocal style fits greatly into this kind of melow-rock tunes.
01 - Living in the magic
02 - Love hurts so bad
03 - Never care for the future
04 - Flying higher
05 - Light of a new day (Japan bonus track)
06 - In your eyes
07 - Dancing in the moonlight
08 - Never stop screaming rock
09 - Hey you
10 - Shattered dreams
11 - Fire Burn Desire
12 - Wherever you go
13 - Stand up tonight
Paolo Morbini - drums, percussion
Hox Martino - guitars, backing vocals
Davide Faccio - keyboards, synths, backing vocals
Fabian Andrechen - bass, backing vocals
Franco Campanella - lead & backing vocals
turbo turbob
MYLAND – Light Of A New Day [Japan Edition +1 bonus] 2012
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