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JOANovARC: Ride Of Your Life

Melodic Hard Rock/AOR

5.0/5.0

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Red Vixen Records
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 09.11.2016

Formed by sisters Sam and Shelley Walker, and some twelve years in the making, JOANovARC are poised to release their first full-length album, Ride Of Your Life, produced by Grammy winning producer Gil Norton (Foo Fighters). In between those years the band has been touring the UK and Europe extensively, sharing the stage with notable peers like Adam Ant, Bad Company, Bonnie Tyler, Girlschool, Marillion, and Toto, to name a mere few.

JOANovARC

Honestly, there's nothing really new or novel about JOANovARC's sound. They play classic melodic hard rock, pure and simple. It's very guitar forward with twin guitar harmony and killer solos. Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson has been quoted as saying, "These girls can shred!" And he's dead bang on target. Guitar solos make classic rock and Shelley Walker is worthy of the guitar hero label.

The arrangements are packed the necessary and purposeful elements of all classic rock: harmony, melody, and groove, then complimented by AOR accessibility and spiced with some punk edge. JOANovArc has a natural, even uncanny, gift for clean and melodic vocal harmonies. If the guitar lines don't sell this album, the vocal arrangements will. If I had to make some comparison, I would say JOANovArc sounds like a mash up of Girlschool and Runaway with some Foo Fighters tossed in.

As for the songs, essentially, they rock. Straight up blistering rockers come with Ride Of Your Life, Going Down, Seeds Of Summer, and Dragon In The Sky. You get more of that AOR accessibility with with catchy tunes like White Trash, which uses both the refrain and chord structure to hook you, and the racy groove machine Live Rock N Roll, again with a dynamic chorus. Running Away is a prime example of that aforementioned pleasant vocal harmony. And JOANovARC can dial back to hard rock anthem with the smooth Peace Of Mind, again with amazing rich vocal harmonies.

Bottom line? With Ride Of Your Life, JOANovARC delivers classic melodic hard rock for the new century. Get it. Easily recommended.

JOANovARC - Dragon In The Sky

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Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

With Ride Of Your Life, JOANovARC delivers classic melodic hard rock for the new century. Get it. Easily recommended.

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