Whooo-ha! This is a hot album! Commercial/melodic metallers are gonna drool over this one.
This long-awaited project from John and Dino Elefante delivers. They've lived up to all the expectations that the two California Metal albums have generated.
This is not John and Dino Elefante's new band, though. They put it together, but won't be touring with it. John handles lead vocals on three of the ten songs: "This Is The Day"; "Islands In The Sky"; and "Get Up". Why isn't John fronting the band he put together? Well, John's voice isn't really suited for some of the raspy rockers on this album, plus the fact that he may get a huge secular contract sometime. On to the review.
The songs here are average to excellent commercial hard-rockers with more of a metal bit than John's work with Kansas. "Shine On", a real progressive ballad, is the lone song here that really sounds like a Kansas tune.
Dave Robbins, of X-Sinner, adds his AC/DC and Cinderella-like sassy vocals on "It's A Jungle Out There". Dave Amato, who has worked with Ted Nugent, sang lead vocals on "GloryBound", "Right Hand", and "Love That Will Survive".
"This Is The Day" conveys a lot of happy emotions. There's one section, where John sings the chorus, that sounds like a Simple Minds single. "Right Hand", which they wrote on the spot in the studio, turned out to be one of the most popular tunes. It's a neat song about our Lord's authoritative position. There is a massive outro with some classic rock riffs that are produced nicely.
Overall, this superbly-produced album should please both soft and hard rockers.