Hardline - Leaving The End Open

\r\nI can’t believe that 17 years have passed since Hardline released their awesome debut “Double Eclipse” in 1992. Releasing only 3 albums in such a long time is not exactly what we would call productive and for that reason alone the expectations for a good album are great. “Leaving The End Open” is in no case a “bad release” but it’s not the album the fans were expecting either.
\r\nIn total is surely better than their previews work “II” of 2002 but then again it just leaves you with the sense of something’s missing….The compositions, mostly ballads and mid-tempo tracks, are lacking in feeling and nerve making the tracks sound powerless. Don’t expect to listen to songs like “Takin’ Me Down”, “Bad Taste” and in no way the awesome “Hot Cherie”. There are no such songs here. Maybe is the line-up changing thing since Neal Schon and Joey Gioeli have lest the band while Josh Ramos as a guitarist is not exactly the wisest choice, on the contrary it makes things worse. This has as a result for the album to sound more like a mixture of AOR – soft rock than a hard rock release of the first degree just like “Double Eclipse” was.
\r\nJohnny Gioeli’s voice is still in very good levels, but his great singing alone doesn’t save the compositions.
\r\nAnyway, those of you not familiar with Hardline I think that “Double Eclipse” would be an excelent choice.\r\n

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\r\nDimitris Karantounias\r\n

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