Two German musicians, Jan Knopf (vocals) and Sven Horlemann (guitar, bass, keyboards, composing and arranging and everything-else), met four years ago and they decided to do an album together. They love bands like Journey, Toto, WhiteSnake and Survivor… Jan’s voice is warm and sweet and Sven can write down a number of interesting melodies and features.
Their debut record, “Hotter Than A Thousand Suns”, was released in 2009 and now they’re “firing” at us with their sophomore album. “Drive” is a garden filled with AOR songs and AOR songs (yep, that’s in the power of two!), featuring totally melodic choruses and tons of “compositional” hard work. I think I just found out the first “single” of the album. “Emily” is the one, with that Marillion-like chorus; it hits us right on the spot and then enters “Fly From Here”. Yeah, Jan’s voice is smashing and really interesting. Naturally he’s the one doing all the vocals in the album!
We’ve listened albums made by just two peeps in the past, inspiration and technology come together and the result can be quite appealing. Sven loves Jan’s voice, he loves writing the “right” words and melodies for that voice and, on the other hand, Jan couldn’t be happier, having Sven composing all these wonderful things for him.
Clean-cut production, polished and “dry”. I just have one thing to say about the drum-parts. I read it over their webpage as well, it’s not a computer, these are actually parts played live by studio musicians and then Jan and Sven proceed with “forming” them in order to fit in. No argument here, gents, it’s just I think you can easily find a drummer and have him doing the works for you and get a different drum-feeling.
Should we move to one of the mighty album hits now? “Mysterious” is a Foreigner meets Purple meets Journey song, with a Pop twist… It’s a fantastic melody, so loose, so full of spring. Just like the “Beat Of My Heart” epilogue… Their second album makes us want a third one RIGHT NOW! All the best to the boys!
