Dangerdog Music Reviews :: © 1999 - 2024 Craig S Hartranft :: All Rights Reserved
No part of this this website, including design and music reviews,
may be reproduced in any form or by any means without
the prior written permission of the publisher.
- New Music Reviews
- |
- Archives
- |
- News
- |
- Submissions
- |
- About
- |
- |
New Music Reviews, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal, AOR, Alternative Rock, Alternative Metal
Recent Reviews
April 2024
- Vanden Plas: The Empyrean Equation Of The Long Lost Things
- Praying Mantis: Defiance
- King Zebra: Between The Shadows
- About Us: Take A Piece
- Blue Oyster Cult: Ghost Stories
March 2024
- Cruzh: The Jungle Revolution
- Whom Gods Destroy: Insanium
- The Prog Collective: Dark Encounters
- Lords Of Black: Mechanics Of Predacity
- Lipz: Changing The Melody
- The End Machine: The Quantum Phase
- Stargate: Escaping The Illusion
- Turbulence: Binary Dream
- Sonata Arctica: Clear Cold Beyond
- D'Luna: Monster
- Big Big Train: The Likes Of Us
- Benjamin Croft: We Are Here To Help
February 2024
- Traveler: Prequel To Madness
- Lionheart: The Grace Of A Dragonfly
- Honeymoon Suite: Alive
- Durbin: Screaming Steel
- Smoking Snakes: Danger Zone
- Revolution Saints: Against The Winds
- Striker: Ultrapower
- Show N Tell: The Ritual Has Begun
- Robert Hart: Circus Life
January 2024
- Corvus: Immortals
- Caligula's Horse: Charcoal Grace
- Grand: Second To None
- Neal Morse: The Restoration - Joseph - Part Two
- The Rods: Rattle The Cage
- Gotus: Gotus
- Metalite: Expedition One
- Cobrakill: Serpent's Kiss
- Jack Russell & Tracii Guns: Medusa
- Jim Peterik & World Stage: Roots & Shoots Vol. 1
- The Grandmaster: Black Sun
Hardreams: Unbroken Promises
Hardreams: Unbroken Promises
Melodic Hard Rock/AOR
4.0/5.0
Facebook
Twitter
Perris Records
by Craig Hartranft, 02.22.2013
It may be difficult to figure out what they were going after for their band name. Is it pronounced 'har-dreams' or 'hard-reams' or maybe you need too supply the extra 'd' for 'hard (d)reams.' You guess is as good as mine. One thing is easy to get and that's Hardreams music: pure melodic hard rock in the AOR style.
Hardreams:: one hand in pocket.
Unbroken Promises is the third album for this Barcelona based band, and it's a pretty good one. Actually, it's rather smooth stuff, not quite the Westcoast style but neither is it straight 'hard' rock. Though Hardreams can get edgier as on Cross the Line, Goin' Fast, and A High Mountain to Climb.
Mostly, Unbroken Promises leans heavily on the AOR wrapper to allow their songs to have good melodies, harmonies and hooks. In this sense, Hardreams isn't reinventing the melodic rock wheel. Songs like Count on Me, It's Only Love, or Woman in Black are simply fundamental AOR melodic rock. No muss, no fuss. Hardreams gets the genre and does it quite well. That's not to say this is average material, but rather what you expect when you think AOR melodic rock.
The real wild card here is the finishing song, All and Now, a slow burning ballad sounding like a modern torch song. It's AOR for sure, and could be called a slow dance song. It reminds of a song that the cover band at a late Seventies high school dance would have in their set for all the teenage lovers to grind to. In toto, Hardreams' Unbroken Promises is solid and entertaining melodic rock.
Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.
TweetIn Short
Hardreams' Unbroken Promises is solid and entertaining melodic rock in the AOR style and tradition.
Find A Review
Alphabetical Index
New & Notable
Three years have passed since Sweden's Cruzh dropped their second long-player, Tropical Thunder, also introducing their new singer, Alex Waghorn. Now the band returns with The Jungle Revolution ... [ Read More ]