BLUEROSE – Fallen From Heaven (2012)
The Melodic Hard Rock / AOR project BLUEROSE started in 2006 as a cover band. Now these Italians are releasing their independently recorded debut "Fallen From Heaven" including original material.
Seems many Italian young musicians have a profound love for these genres (Lionville, Soul Seller) lately.
Founded by guitar player Riccardo Scaramelli and drummer Cristiano Primosi (who also co-wrote the songs), Bluerose's debut is inspired by classic American bands of the '80s.
Not usual for this kind of music, "Fallen From Heaven" is somehow a concept album telling the story of an angel called Bluerose who is fallen on Earth, describing his emotions during his journey.
Almost all tracks on the CD are preceded by an instrumental intro, which is quite interesting. The first two 'main tracks' are amongst the best on offer here.
"Fallen From Heaven" is a nice melodic hard rocker driven by a never-ceasing melodic guitar, whilst "Eyes To Eyes" has the classic hair metal sound impregnated all over.
Then "Wasted" has an eighties European Hard Rock mold, with a fast pace and a good shredding guitar solo. However, this style does not fit well for the band IMHO, and the chorus is weak and repetitive.
"Lonely Days" is another good tune, a well composed power ballad in the classic style, which also reveals in the lyrics the main concept of the story.
"Rock On" rocks again with a good riff and cool backing vocals, followed by the Americanized "Power", obviously inspired by Arizona's Icon.
The commercial Melodic Rock of "On Through The Night" reminds you a second hand Johnny Lima, "Born To Be In Love" has a nice AOR rock feel, and "No More Lies" sounds like a light White Lion.
"No One But You" ends the journey of the angel and the album in acoustic mode, a fine ballad although a bit generic.
The intentions of Bluerose on "Fallen From Heaven" are more than laudable, playing the genres we all love. Add to this the good idea of a whole album as a concept story.
Some songs are quite well composed, and the musicianship is good. But they need a real singer, as it's clear that Scaramelli is mainly guitarist, his vocals are weak for the most part, sometimes a bit out of pitch.
Production, and particularly the mix (managed by themselves) on a few tracks does not help either, but this is an indie recording and those aspects can be corrected with a major budget at hand.
Bluerose has potential, just check the video-track below. It's a matter of time if they are ready for bigger things.
Interesting.
01. (intro: The Fallen) Fallen From Heaven
02. (intro: The Desire) Eyes To Eyes
03. (intro: The Lostness) Wasted
04. (intro: The Loneliness) Lonely Days
05. (intro: The Feeling) Rock On
06. Power
07. (intro: The Sorrow) On Through The Night
08. (intro: The Love) Born To Be In Love
09. (intro: The Guilt) No More Lies
10. No One But You
Riccardo Scaramelli - Vocals / Guitars / Keyboards
Giuliano Soranno - Guitars
Sebastiano Canalaz - Guitars / Backing Vocals
Guido Lucchese - Bass
Cristiano Primosi - Drums & Percussion