Reload
Hotter Than a Bullet

Hotter than a Bullet, that is what the debut album of Greek band Reload is called. It is promised to be a fiery creation of classic rock or AOR, the typical bandnames are namedropped in the press information for the album – not much other than that is what I can find. More than it is the band’s debut and fairly famous musician/producer Bob Katsionis is pushing the buttons behind the scenes. Reading the press sheet one does however not really get the impression that there is something fresh and exciting going on about this band and that is something a reviewer really needs and wants. The cover and the logo doesn’t look that interesting either, what is inside that cover is something that is most familiar.

It is called AOR, or melodic rock/hardrock if you like that kind of labelling of it. They run the tried and tested formula with catchy choruses, and melodies, some would call it cheesy but this kind of music is design to always be instantly favourable with the listener. The singer is the high pitched one that we often hear within the genre, a good singer but one that we have heard many times before. The same can be said about the sound and production, there isn’t really anything surprising within this album – we get what we can expect when those genre names are mentioned. Reload offer no surprises.

They will most likely not disappoint the fans of the genre, it plays on the strength of this genre so it is a good album just not one that can be said to stand out or offer us anything we haven’t heard before and as a reviewer I see that as a slight bit of a problem – not a big one but it is there nonetheless. If you buy it I am sure you’ll find it decent enough but the thing is that when painting by the numbers it seems to be quite easy to make good AOR as there are many bands that do that, making excellent and exciting AOR seems to be much more difficult.

We are offered the typical variation of the genre, the hit songs like Superhero or Higher are there, the obligatory ballad like Prince of Steel is also there, we have what we can expect on this album. The playing time of 44 minutes is alright as well, there isn’t much to be said about the album really, it is what can be expected and the AOR genre is always good as it is the nature of this genre to play on what the listeners enjoy even if reviewers should require a bit more while fans are more easily sold on this kind of thing.

For me Superhero and Higher are probably the most enjoyable tracks on the album, typical AOR hits but enjoyable nonetheless. I am sure the internet reviewers are salivating over this album claiming that it is the hundredth AOR album of the year on their top-ten lists. If you like AOR it can be worth checking out, it is good but lacks the imagination that makes good albums great.

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