Review: CoreLeoni – Generection

Reigning Phoenix Music – September 11^th, 2026

Reviewer – Jason Hopper

CoreLeoni, the side project founded by Gotthard guitarist Leo Leoni, are back with their fourth studio album, ‘Generection‘. A brief historical summary. CoreLeoni’s first two albums featured the fantastic vocals of singer Ronnie Romero and were re-recordings of mostly classic era Gotthard tracks. Third album, aptly titled ‘III‘ featured new lead singer Gent Bushpepa and included all new material. I will admit, somehow their third album passed me by and I will correct that in short order. This new album sees Gent returning. While I’ll always be entranced by the vocals of Ronnie Romero, Gent Bushpepa does have a range and style that falls between the two Gotthard vocalists, the late Steve Lee and Nic Maeder.

What we have with this new album is an interesting and at times truly exceptional array of tracks that cover various eras of the Gotthard discography. Being a HUGE Gotthard fan, particularly the era of singer Steve Lee, I can point to parts or whole structures of songs and definitively state what inspired them and where these songs could easily fit on their previous albums. This review is going to rely heavily on comparisons to Gotthard.

I’ll cut to the chase and get right to the exceptional songs. I cannot stop playing what will probably end up being my favorite song of this year. ‘Don’t Tell Me’ is one of the greatest songs ever recorded by Leo Leoni and is up there with the best Gotthard songs ever released. I would call it a ‘sister’ track to 2007’s ‘The Oscar Goes To You’ combined with the bite of 1996’s ‘Make My Day’. Fuckin’ phenomenal!  If you’re going to stream the album, play this song first.

‘Sex On The Beach’ harkens back to the feel of the ‘Dial Hard’ album, which pleases me immensely. A bluesy groove thumper with double entendre lyrics that made me want to have what Gent was having. The cut loose approach brought a big ol’ smile to my face.

The big ballad of the album is ‘Believe’, and it’s fantastic. Up there with some of the best Gotthard ballads like ‘Let It Be’ and ‘The Call’, it opens with a piano and some simple notes and goes into a full band bombast. The chorus is grandiose and passionate. Anytime a song makes you think of moments of faith in your history, you know the band hit the nail on the head.  Simply beautiful.

The album does have two covers. One is simply dreadful and will be discussed later. The other is an interesting take on ‘Vision’ from the 1998 Gotthard album ‘Open‘. While the original is a laid-back mid-tempo ditty, this new version opens with eerie keyboard notes, like something out of a haunted house attraction. Once the band kicks in, you get a Cinderella’s ‘Nobody’s Fool‘ style aesthetic that would be unrecognizable if not for my familiarity with the chorus. Dark, moody, completely the opposite of what came before…and it enraptured me. I’m totally sold by it and love when bands take covers in bold directions.

As fabulous as I find this album, there is one aspect that prevents this album from sitting aside the classics of previous Gotthard albums, the production. According to the press release: “One of the album’s defining characteristics is its analog production, capturing the spirit and sonic depth of classic ’70s and ’80s rock recordings while delivering the power and clarity of a contemporary production. The result is a vintage yet modern, timeless rock jewel with an authentic analog feel, razor-sharp guitars, driving rhythms and a modern punch”.

While that sounds like a selling point, what you end up getting is an album that has album/tape hisses faintly in the background and drum cymbals that are mixed WAY too high. In most songs, it is not too distracting. However, certain songs that rely on a heavy pounding of the cymbals create a sonic mess. ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Rebel’ is most affected by this. It is an intense heavy hitter that is completely ruined by the cranked production. Opener ‘Last Goodbye’ has the same problem, taking a song that should be a shot over the bow to having the listener wonder if the whole album will sound like a demo. If Gotthard albums have five star productions, this one gets three and a half stars.

One more critique. No rock band, and in particular no male rock band, should ever cover the funk-drenched track ‘Lady Marmalade’. You cannot take those lyrics and make them “rock”. It’s pure cringe. I am to understand that this is an exclusive digital album track. This suits me just fine as I don’t want it to taint the CD I will be eventually purchasing.

And you should purchase this as well. The good outweighs the bad here and this is an album that should be obtained, not just streamed. Streaming seems to be anything everyone talks about, but bands make quite a bit more through physical media and this is an album I want to physically own to show my support. Fans of Leo Leoni and Gotthard are absolutely going to dig this release. A Top 10 album of the year for me.

Track list:

1. Last Goodbye
2. Generation Rock
3. Howling At The Moon
4. Sex On The Beach
5. Believe
6. Vision CoreLeoni
7. Rock ‘N’ Roll Rebel
8. Don’t Tell Me
9. I’m Afraid I’m In Love
10. Yearning
11. Lady Marmalade

Line-up:

Eugent Bushpepa – Vocals
Leo Leoni – Guitars
Jgor Gianola – Guitars
Mila Merker – Bass
Alex Motta – Drums

Web Links:

Official Website

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