Ten
Heresy and Creed

It is album number ten for Ten, it is called Heresy and Creed which follows last year’s acclaimed Stormwarning. This year the album cover is not even remotely close to as good as it was for Stormwarning, it is however not the artwork but the fact if they manage to match last year’s effort or not. The do match it for playing time with over an hour this time as well, this time with a few more songs in the tracklist. Gary Hughes has a few new faces in his line up this time as well, but as before it is Gary who writes the stuff and just as one Stormwarning the knops and dials are handled by Dennis Ward so all the pieces are in place for a good sequel. But promise is one thing, fulfilling that promise is another so let us look at what Ten does with their tenth album.

Musically you will recognise the voice of Hughes which is not the typical melodic rock/AOR voice, a bit less high pitched and he usually sticks with one way of singing and does not alter his voice that much. And to be honest, he isn’t a brilliant singer but still brings out something special somehow. The production is tip top, just as one can expect from something in the Frontiers roster. Ten has a quite individual style of doing their songs, they are catchy and melodic just like most melodic rock but they build a lot around choruses that mostly are less repetitive and often longer with more words than is usual in the genre. This does not only set the band apart from most other stuff in the genre, it also gives the songs more longevity if you play them repetitively in a short timeframe.

It is what you can expect from Ten in a way but it is also different enough to make feel fresh and new so that it doesn’t feel like a slight alteration of an album they have already released. It is less keyboard driven than Stormwarning was and the songs are more stylistically varied, it for instance starts a bit oriental to alter into a more traditional soundscape. There are some fine ballads and some catchy rockers and some grande tunes as well, all in a very dynamic package that doesn’t really loose cohesion anywhere which is good. I think that if I am to complain it is about the album lacking this major hit like last year’s The Hourglass and the Landslide which is just a brilliant song that I have played almost a hundred times now, which is probably most by any song reviewed last year. Another complaint I might have is the fact the album is a slight bit long when playing a bit past the hour, I think 45 would have been better, I always think that one should remove more songs if the album is over 50 minutes long unless there is a story being told in the songs which I doubt is the case with this album. Still neither of these complains are any major drawback as the album has several great tunes and it is varied enough to keep a listener interested for the duration of it.

Best on the album are the opening duo of song with the instrumental intro leading into the Arabian Knights track, then the finishing duo of songs with the brilliant ballad The Riddle probably as the jewel in the crown that is Heresy and Creed. I have enjoyed this album immensely and I think it goes to show that Ten definitely belongs to the top step of the AOR/Melodic rock hierarchy and this album cements that position. A well recommended album that I think anyone enjoying the melodic rock genre will find very good, the tenth album sure is a strong one.

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