Red Rose 2015
Anniversary
Marking their first five years of existence, Israeli heavy shifters open an AOR door and see the future is bright.
Two albums in, this band do deliver on a promise painted on 2013’s "On The Cusp Of Change", but if their idea of a turn lay in a commercial bend the “Anniversary” EP shapes it in style and with concept-like substance. There might be an anthemic non-acceptance of the situation in “Everything Can Change” and an uplifting, vocal harmonies-filled rejection of a truth-seeker’s doubt in “At The Crossroad,” yet the sleek opener “Never Surrender” strikes a piano-sprinkled defiant pose in an ’80s hard rock mode where Elnur Aliev’ guitars chime and burn.
Some of the hopeful arguments offered by Leve Laiter’s voice are dubious, though. “Man who beats his wife without a reason why”? Is it acceptable for a reason? This somehow mars all the four cuts on display, the longish “Make You Believe” opting for >>>cliched hooks. But that’s just a thorny side of a rose, the whole bed of them. Suffering for the sake of art? That would undermine the group’s optimistic stance so, celebration over, it’s time for a fine-tuning.
***4/5
