New Music Review : Restless Spirits - 2019 Debut Album Tony Hernando : CD Album Music Review : by Craig Hartranft Dangerdog Music 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

[ More Music Reviews ]

Restless Spirits - 2019 Debut Album Tony Hernando Music Review

Restless Spirits: Restless Spirits

Melodic Heavy Metal Rock

4.5/5.0

Facebook
Frontiers Music
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 15.05.2019 | Released: 17.05.2019

It's not uncommon for musicians who have a standing gig with a band to have a side hustle. Lords Of Black guitarist Tony Hernando offers his own side project, Restless Spirits. From the musical omnibus that is Frontiers Music, the debut album features artists from the label's stable: Johnny Gioeli (Hardline, Axel Rudi Pell), Deen Castronovo (Revolution Saints, ex-Journey), Dino Jelusic (Animal Drive), Kent Hilli (Perfect Plan), Alessandro Del Vecchio (Hardline), and Diego Valdez (Dream Child).

Tony Hernando

If you recall Hernando's main gig, you know Lords Of Black plays, essentially, melodic heavy power metal. But with Restless Spirits, Hernando is going for more melodic hard rock in the Eighties AOR tradition. However, there's no disputing the insertion of some metal edge, thanks most often to Hernando's sharp guitar riffs and roaring solos. Basically, Hernando and friends are blurring the lines: call this melodic heavy metal rock, and quite guitar driven at that.

Even so, the metal edge can be tempered by both the timbre of the vocalist and/or a significant piano line. The latter surfaces brightly within Unbreakable, Calling You, and Lost Time, all songs developing into some assertive melodic hard rock. Alternatively, the piano line also infuses and tempers the sharp ballad Nothing I Could Give You or the lighter When It Comes To You. On the vocal side you'll find, for instance, Deen Castronovo too be more smooth and melodic within Unbreakable and Calling You, and a bit more aggressive within Live To Win. While the piano is self-evident within Stop Livin' To Live Online, Hardline voice Johnny Gioeli is at his most assertive and raging best. Finally, and needless to say, Hernando delivers sharp riffs to rhyme with the song and then race to some superb and blistering guitar solos.

All said, guitarist Tony Hernando's Restless Spirits offers an energetic and entertaining album of melodic heavy metal rock with his masterful guitar skills at the forefront. Recommended.

Ruthless: Evil Within

Heavy Metal

4.0/5.0

Some 20 years from their only long player and 15 years from their original demise, California's Ruthless resurrected to a second life with 2015's They Rise, a solid ... [ Read More ]

CraigHartranft.net - New fiction, crime fiction by Craig Hartranft

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