Wednesday, August 24, 2011

ROB MANCINI / ROCK N ROLL CIRCUS (2011)

After almost a decade of recording abstinence, touring the Irish Club scene , Irelands’ German-Italian born rock musician and producer, Rob Mancini is back with his new album “Rock’n’Roll Circus”.
Rob played extensively on the international rock circuit in the mid 90’s with bands such as Hotwire and Crush, recording several albums and sharing the stage with artists such as Victory, Thunderhead, Dare etc before moving to Ireland in 2001 to work as studio and session musician. 

The albums start off with the 'scary' and 'theatrical' instrumental "Carnival Of Fools" as intro for the title track "Rock 'N' Roll Circus". The title track is a hard rockin' tune with a modern feeling in it and a cool riffing. For me, this track is a great mixure of 80's up-tempo hard rocker with a strong dose of the nowadays modern hard rock stuff. The next track is "Edge Of A Broken Heart". A really impressive tune with an inspired melody, Mancini's smooth vocal lines and a strong chorus. One of my favourite songs from this album. "Everytime You Cry" is another winner here! It's a mid-tempo one with a very good rhythm and, once again, a memorable chorus line! "Running Up That Hill" is a cover of Kate Bush's big hit but this time Mancini is givin' to this song a 'modern' and 'fresher' approach! The result isn't bad at all! 

With "Lay Down The Law", Mancini rocks again with 'sharp' guitars and in-your-face vocal performances. A nice track! "Weak As I Am" is a very interesting tune, it's  more Aor-ish filled with some excellent keyboards and Rob Mancini's stunning performances. "Stranger In Paradise" is an overall good melodic rocker while "Too Late To Die" is a modern rock track with some good arrangements but nothin' really breathtaking here. "United We Stand" is a 'darker' rocker with a very nice chorus line and an interesting guitar work. " Time Stops For No One But You" is a kinda of 'atmospheric' tune and probably the weakest track here, imho. The bonus track is a different version of "Edge Of A Broken Heart".

All in all this is a very interesting release. It contains some really strong tracks with nice arrangements and very good melodies. A couple of average tunes don't bother me at all. I, also, believe that with a 'bigger' production this release would be much better. Recommended.

HeavyParadise's Rating : 7,5/10

TRACK LIST : 01 - Carnival Of Fools, 02 - Rock 'N' Roll Circus, 03 - Edge Of A Broken Heart, 04 - Everytime You Cry, 05 - Running Up That Hill, 06 - Lay Down The Law, 07 - Weak As I Am, 08 - Stranger In Paradise, 09 - Too Late To Die, 10 - United We Stand, 11 - Time Stops For No One But You, 12 - Edge Of A Broken Heart (Radio Edit)

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