I remember I had criticized harshly the first attempt of the duet five years ago. That untitled album seemed to me very fake and pretentiously oriented towards the melodic sound, despite the fact that I pay very much respect to Michael Kiske and Amanda Somerville individually.
When I first listened to the “City Of Heroes” my first reaction was a smile with clenched lips and an affirmative movement of the head. It was really as I wanted it to be. Explosive, with storming refrains, great melodies and the necessary volume of the sound, once again with the contribution of the great Mat Sinner on bass, as well as in the composition and the production of the album.
With the exception of “Ocean Of Tears”, a great ballad, and the more mid tempo “After The Night Is Over”, the remaining ten tracks constitute a frantic set of melody, dynamism and unexpected – to say the truth – speed. I don’t intend to say something about the vocal abilities of the two singers since they are widely regarded of top level.
With great difficulty I’d pick “Rising Up” as the best moment of “City Of Heroes” with “Walk On Water” and “Last Goodbye” to … threaten it in an absolutely noble competition. Okay … “Right Now” which closes the album is mediocre, almost a silly song, always in relation to the previous ones.
I think that this release should concern all the fans of melodic hard rock and metal and it’s one of the greatest surprises of this year.
