Review: Lion’s Pride Music – King of Beasts
Lion’s Pride Music (December 22nd, 2024)
Reviewer: Jason Hopper
Lion’s Pride Music is celebrating their 10-year anniversary with their 100th release, a compilation album that showcases highlights from the bands on the label, with unreleased tracks, remixes, and orchestral versions of songs.
I am a sucker for a good compilation and the chance to review a Lion’s Pride Music compilation is a no-brainer. The label consistently releases quality material, from what limited releases I have heard. That’s the beauty of a “best of” album from the label. If any label is going to be releasing a compilation album, you know they are going to want to put their best foot forward in terms of material. This compilation certainly delivers that. Even if you are familiar with these bands, checking out unreleased songs and reworkings is always going to be interesting.
Every band here has something of interest to me. With my preferences leaning towards a harder rock edge over AOR, my ears immediately perked up when I came across Cold Drop’s track ‘One Life (AB Mix)’ with its heavy, blues-based rock about living it up. The other hard rock track that immediately caught my attention was a band that I reviewed this year, Counterline. ‘Alone’ is a leftover track from one of their last two albums and thankfully found its way here. It’s too good a song to be left on a shelf somewhere. A driving melody with a bridge that builds to a soaring chorus is slightly formulaic but effective, if done right. The band has the chops to pull this off and in doing so create a song that could have been the highlight of one of their previous albums but makes it a standout of this album.
While those are favorites, there are some other noteworthy tracks. Having never heard Ailafar’s ‘As Long As I Got You’ I was blown away by the epic outro solo from guitarist John Tzortzis. He shreds in a way that is heartfelt and meaningful, not playing to show off, but with passion and purpose. Very well done!
‘Don’t Be Afraid of Love’ is a mid-tempo keyboard driven composition that had me convinced it was being sung by Brother Firetribe singer Pekka Ansio Heino. Turns out it is David Cagle. He doubles his vocals in the chorus to great effect. His own matching harmonies has a warmth to it that makes the message heartfelt.
Perticone’s ‘Save Me Tonight’ is a synthwave track that gets better as it progresses. It goes into a higher key change throughout, reaching a crescendo at the end, matching the longing and fears of the singer. The combination of heartfelt melodies and desperate wording makes for a winning combination.
The ordering of the album strikes me as a little strange. There are three orchestral versions of songs, and they are placed at the end of the album. That’s not an issue, but the decision to throw in a non-orchestral song with Eddie Vantez’s pop infused track ‘Healing Touch (Remix)’ is a weird call by the label. The song should have been separated from this grouping.
A few points to make about the orchestral versions of those concluding tracks. Silvernite’s reworked version of ‘Show Me The Way’ is simply not ‘Orchestral’. It may be remixed and stripped down, but a track dominated by synth is far from orchestral. Admittedly I am not a huge fan of orchestral versions of songs but found Mason’s approach to ‘Whatever It Takes’ to be the most interesting, although I still am not crazy about the vocal effect placed on lead singer Marcus Mason in the chorus or why it was left on for this version.
If you want to see the best of what this label has to offer, this would be a great start. I now have a few more bands on my radar to check out. There’s something for everyone who is into melodic rock and AOR so give this a spin to see what you have been missing and go support these bands and this label.
Tracklist:
- Masaki – Nowhere To Run
- Cold Drop – One Life (AB Mix)
- Loud Solution – Not Provided (2024 Version)
- Wild Rose – Alone (2012 Version)
- Strangerland – Don’t Be Afraid of Love
- Perticone – Save Me Tonight (Alternative Version)
- Ailafar – As Long As I’ve Got You
- Counterline – Alone
- Mason – Whatever It Takes (Orchestral Version)
- Silvernite – Show Me The Way (Orchestral Version)
- Eddie Vantez – Healing Touch (Remix)
- Voodoo Angel – Broken (Orchestral Version)
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