East Temple Avenue
Both Sides of Midnight

This has to be AOR, that is what I figured when I saw this album and that was confirmed when I played it. It is a multi-national band with a debut album that was recorded in Australia, Sweden and USA with members that haven’t been in the same room together but with the hope of meeting in the future to perform the songs live. And perhaps it is live that is the thing considering how much AOR is released and how hard it is to be noticed in that very overcrowded genre.

They don’t really break from the conventional AOR, or reimagine the genre, they do what millions of bands has done before them. As a note on this I just took the three bands that was in the AOR Heaven review-template, it could have been any three bands from the genre, Toto, Journey, Roulette, Foreigner, any selected Frontiers band, to name a few examples. But the singer is great, the songs catchy and accessible, the production is clean and polished – anything the internet reviewers tend to be wowed by when it comes to AOR. So, it is an accessible and really well produced album.

And it is a really good album, easy to like with its catchy melodies and choruses. I think it will appeal to many who likes the genre, the problem is the competition as I can’t really see what would make this album stand out above the rest of the genre peers. It isn’t very memorable, none of the songs really knocks you of your feet or make you want to return to the album – it is just a gathering of solid good songs, it would have needed at least one really strong and memorable hit song. I think this is one more of those albums that will drown in the massive mainstreams of the AOR genre.

It is a good album, but not a memorable one. If you like the genre you will most likely find this one agreeable, but do you really need one more album that doesn’t add anything that you don’t already have. The selective record collector really needn’t bother with this one as it isn’t that great, and the cover is boring as well. So, the conclusion is that the album is good, you will probably not be disappointed if you buy the album, and it can be played on both sides of midnight, and maybe it will aid your sleep on the other side of midnight.

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