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Khymera - The Greatest Wonder

Published February 21 2008


*
=Staff's pick

Ablaze (Intro)
Beautiful Life
Borderline*
Burn Out*
Since You Went Away
Love Has Been And Gone
No Sacrifice
The Greatest Wonder*
Fight For Yesterday
If I Can't Be
Love Will Find You
Stay Forever*
The Other Side*


Genre AOR/Hard Rock
Dennis Ward
Vocals
Tracks 13
Tommy Ermolli
Guitar
Runningtime 53 Min.
-
Guitar
Label Frontiers Records
Dennis Ward
Bass
Release 22 Feb. 2008
Dario Ciccioni
Drums
Country Italy/USA
Daniele Liverani
Keyboard
Similar artists FM, Journey, House Of Lords, Sunstorm

Khymera was formed as a studio project by Italian multi-instrumentalist Daniel Liverani (Genius, Empty Tremor) and on their self-titled debut album, released in 2003, no other than renowned vocalist Steve Walsh (Kansas) was part of the line-up. On the second album however he was replaced by Pink Cream 69 bassist and producer Dennis Ward and he remains now when it's time for Khymera's third album. Neither Daniele Liverani nor Dennis Ward are the composers on this record, it's in fact the British twin brothers Tom and James Martin (House Of Lords, Ted Poley) that solely are responsible for the song writing here, and that's a task well done I must say.

The Greatest Wonder is nothing but a passionate glance at melodic hard rock and AOR of the eighties. Khymera have not tried to invent the wheel again and I am convinced they have absolutely no intentions of doing so either. This is exactly how it used to sound way back then without any attempts of modernization whatsoever. A fact that appeals a great deal to me and makes me think of the Joe Lynn Turner fronted Sunstorm's brilliant album from 2006. A great sounding record is nothing without good song writing however but The Greatest Wonder is packed with catchy, soaring and addictive melodies, just like the genre demands. Borderline for instance sticks like glue at once and if we were living in the eighties this would have been a minor hit. Burn Out with its beautiful and melancholic melodies is another big favourite of mine. The best song however is Stay Forever with a verse that almost sounds like a shameless theft from FM (Indiscreet is probably the best AOR album ever, buy if you haven't got it!), and a chorus that you can't get rid of.

Khymera has with this record filled an empty space inside of me since I listened a lot to this kind of music in my teens but rarely nowadays. The Greatest Wonder isn't maybe solid from start to finish since there are a couple of fillers here and there but the lion part of the album just leaves me with a big smile on my face. This record isn't groundbreaking at all, but still a must buy for everyone with a soft spot for melodic hard rock and AOR with strong melodies.

Performance
Originality
Production
Vocals
Songwriting

8

5

7,5

7,5

7,5

 
Summary



7,5 chalices of 10 - Hawk


Related links:

www.danieleliverani.com
www.myspace.com/khymeraband