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Ted Poley: Beyond The Fade

Melodic Hard Rock/AOR

5.0/5.0

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Frontiers Music
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 04.05.2016

Last month Frontiers Music reunited Danger Danger band members Bruno Ravel and Rob Marcello with mid-period D2 vocalist Paul Laine for a new band and album, The Defiants. Now the powers that be bring out original vocalist Ted Poley with a new solo album, Beyond The Fade. But, the first and most obvious question in your mind is likely, So what's up with Danger Danger? I have no fraggin' clue. (The band did play the Frontiers Rock Festival in Milano in 2014.) But Poley really hasn't done anything new since the Revolve album.

Ted Poley and Friends

And I guess my first response is, well, it's about damn time. Really? Poley is an exceptional rock singer, he's in fine form on this album, and should be heard from more often then every seven years. Anyway. Enough of that. Suffice to say, Beyond The Fade finds Poley slipping into his AOR melodic hard rock groove with ease. The songs were handcrafted by Vega band members and brothers Tom and James Martin, so you can count on top caliber tunes. Lots of melody and harmony, with rock groove and drive, soaring solos, and catchy refrains with Poley's lightly raspy voice leading the way. And that's the positive thing about this album: you hear Poley on every song unlike the recent Chris Ousey album, where Ousey sounded like the proverbial third wheel. Poley has a natural instinct for a song's melody and always stays with it. Also, he's never straining, nor putting himself out of range.

As for the songs, everything is on the AOR side of melodic hard rock, never really veering anywhere towards a metal edge. Perhaps the best description would be to say they see-saw between radio-friendly and arena anthem ready. Certainly the rousing Let's Start Something fits this, yet also the very catchy ear candy of Hands Of Love and the uber amazing Where I Lost You, two of my favorit songs. I can also hear a crowd echoing the refrain of We Are Young. You get a nice ballad and duet with The Perfect Crime. Not sure who the gal is, perhaps the bass player Anna Portalupi. So there's just a taste of what's within Beyond The Fade. This is solid AOR melodic hard rock in it's purest form, lead by an exceptional vocalist. Easily recommended.

Ted Poley - Let's Start Something

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Ted Poley's Beyond The Fade is solid AOR melodic hard rock in it's purest form, lead by an exceptional vocalist. Easily recommended.

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The Powell Payne project, created in 2022 is the collaboration of Mark "Penfold Powell (ex-drummer of Psycho Kiss) and Adam Payne (former vocalist of Airrace). With guitarist Adam Davies and keyboard player ... [ Read More ]