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December 2024

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Michael Kratz: Live Your Life

Melodic Rock/AOR

3.5/5.0

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Art Of Melody Music/Burning Minds Music Group
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 28.02.2018

If you haven't heard of Michael Kratz, you're not alone, neither have I. For eight years, Kratz was the drummer for the Danish pop band Kandis, which was largely popular in their native Denmark. After leaving Kandis, Kratz cut his first solo album, Cross That Line in 2012. He makes his return with a new album, Live Your Life which features some impressive guest musicians including Steve Lukather (Toto), Dom Brown (Duran Duran), and Alessandro Del Vecchio (Revolution Saints, Hardline).

Michael Kratz

While Kandis was something of a pop dance band, Kratz plays, essentially, AOR melodic rock in a Westcoast style. Most of the songs are on the lighter side, and revolve around Kratz' songwriting and voice. While I found the timbre of his voice somewhat dull, his melodic vocal arrangements are a centerpiece of the album.

Yet there are some songs that have a stronger posture, including Never Take Us Alive, which features a tasty funk groove, and This Town Is Lost Without You, where Lukather provides a guitar solo. Whether by acoustic or electric, the guitar lines throughout the album are also noteworthy. Additional sweet sweet solos come within We All Live In This Nation, In Between, Bye Bye, and at the beginning of What Did I ...?. That last song, largely a ballad, is an example of Kratz' softer side, but also the melancholy Lying and Paradise Lost, which features a brief children's chorus.

But those songs also divided the album for me, and caused me to lose interest in the album. There were several reasons for this: the songs were slower, less lively, more pensive, and I also began to tire of Kratz' voice in the second half. I'm not sure it ever resonated with me, but that's just my ears. Nevertheless, I think Michael Kratz is a fine songwriter, and Live Your Life is an interesting collection of Westcoast-style AOR melodic rock tunes.

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

Michael Kratz is a fine songwriter, and Live Your Life is an interesting collection of Westcoast-style AOR melodic rock tunes.

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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 ]