Melodica - Long Way From Home

Year of Release: 2000
Label: Frontiers
Catalog Number: FRCD 057
Format: CD
Total Time: 59:57:00

I was really excited when I first heard about this project and was very pleased to see Ted Poley of Danger Danger and Bone Machine fame return to the scene. Melodica is a result of an union between Austrian born guitar hero Gerhard Pichler and Ted Poley, who needs no further introduction.

First off, let me say that this CD had the potential to become something big, as it seemingly has everything it takes to do really well. Unfortunately that is not the case here. This is melodic metal, the songs are strong, so is the playing, but Ted Poley's vocals simply do not cut it. In fact, Poley has never sounded worse, delivering one off key note after the other. Reviewing a lot of indy releases, I'm used to raw and unpolished sounding vocals, but when off-key notes appear, I draw the line. This performance does to some degree ruin the whole experience [of] listening to the disc and it does also ruin songs which are really good in the first place. I'm not sure what happened here as such performances should never been released officially. Knowing what Ted is good for, this is a mystery to me. Some songs are not that bad vocally though, but overall this is too weak. I just can't keep myself from thinking what this release would have sounded like with good vocals.

I'm sad to say that I really can't recommend this CD, although the songs themselves are strong. Buy the new Ten or Lost Weekend instead!

[This review originally appeared November 2002 at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]

Tracklisting:
It's Not Enough / Never Let You Go / Come Runnin' / Best Friend / Hardest Part Of Love / Forget About You / Playing With Fire / Long Way From Home / Sleeping With The Enemy / Take Me Away / A Long Time Ago

Musicians:
Ted Poley - vocals
Gerhard Pichler - guitar
Joe Slattery - bass
Marty Brassington - drums
Charlie Calv - keyboards

Additional musicians:

Michael Wassermann - keyboards
Willie Horvath - drums
John Rutkiewica - backing vocals

Discography:
Long Way Home (2000)
Acoustica (2001)
LoveMetal (2001)

Genre: Melodic Metal

Origin VA

Added: January 17th 2005
Reviewer: Bj?nar Bevolden
Score:
Artist website: www.tedpoley.com
Hits: 3561
Language: english