This band from Holland
originally started as Devastation Run. After 20 years, they finally release
their first album. Initially, I was a bit surprised, that a band that’s
releasing their first CD after 20 years, only has 33 minutes of material. But
if you read their biography on their site, you’ll see that there were some
changes in their line up and there were a few gaps in the 20 years. So it’s
better to see it as a new start. Also the prize of their CD is low enough to
justify the rather short playing time. The first track “Queen Of
Hearts” is a bit heavy and a bit too straight forward. The structure is a
bit too pop-oriented with verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge and chorus. I
also miss a solo in this track. “Raising Cain” is my
personal favourite. A difficult rhythm with a lot of breaks and changes.
Sometimes the vocals have a Jim Kerr sound, but it’s not all the time, maybe
it’s the timing of the words that gives that feeling. There’s a splendid,
complex, very symphonic, instrumental middle piece. “Crossing Crossroads”
fully demonstrates the vocal skills of Dirk. It’s a slow track with a
beautiful clean guitar solo. “Broken Heart” is a
short track, with nothing special. It’s all vocals, no solo’s, and too
straight-forward. “Cold Sunday Morning”
is one of the better tracks. A pity it has such a big U2 influence. Once you
get U2 out of your head, this is a great song. It’s mainly the guitar that
gives that recognisable sound. The last track “It’s
Over” starts like “Hello” by Lionel Richie, but luckily it’s only the
intro. It changes into a very good ballad. It’s a short CD, with a
lot of good songs, but I miss the guitar- and keyboard solos. Queen of Hearts
is a band that plays progressive rock, but the individual members are a bit
too mainstream. They promise it won’t last 20 years to release their next
album, and I hope they will proceed with tracks like “Raising Cain”,
because that’s the kind of music I would like to hear more of.
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