Hartmann
Shadows & Silhouettes

Hartmann said that the best is yet to come as a title to his last album, meaning that his music would evolve into something even better than that very strong album. Unfortunately Shadows & Silhouettes isn’t that best is yet to come album but it still has its merits. The cover art isn’t one of those merits but having the Hartmann name seems to be a stamp of quality as he is one of the best vocalists around when it comes to hard rock music.

You will recognise the style if you know the music of Hartmann as it sounds like what he has done before and this album offers nothing new and exciting. Catchy choruses, melodic hardrocking songs, great vocals and excellent production are all things that we get from this album. But it is also an album that doesn’t quite give us anything we haven’t heard and when he stated that the best was yet to come last time I found it very appealing, and this is appealing as well even though it feels tired and almost boring – boring from a creative viewpoint but not musically.

The album can also be described as a tad on the long side, 51 minutes is long for an album of that style. But I know I should not complain too much, the album has some really strong tracks to offer and I don’t think anyone who buys it will be disappointed. It can also be described as another confirmation that you can always be certain that albums with Oliver Hartmann on board are very good. I like this even though it isn’t really breaking much new ground, but I also think it could have been better and it isn’t better than the two albums prior to it and it is in the same style so it is very easy to question the merits of it.

It is best when the pace is picked up like in I Would Murder for You and even more so in the track High on You, a track that is very impressive. Why couldn’t the rest of the album be of that calibre? I don’t know why that is, but one thing I do know is that we still have to wait for the best to come, as this isn’t really better than its predecessor that promises exactly that and if he want to live up to the promise he will have to do better than this.

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