Hydrogyn – Private Sessions album
review
Released on: Rapid
Fire Entertainment Release date: Available now
Hydrogyn
have been a hard rockin’ act to say the least, for sometime often in a quite
metal direction, but with this latest release, ‘Private Sessions,’ they are
clearly trying to reach out to a wider acceptability.
They hit
the rock scene with the extremely strong ‘Bombshell’ release, following up with
‘Deadly Passions.’
Led by
the double assault team of the very attractive and extremely talented vocalist
Julie Westlake and her husband on guitar, the likewise, very talented songwriter Jeff
Westlake, they have to me really got something here!
Rounded
off with Joe Migz (Drums) and Chris Sammons (Bass), they’ve certainly got
a strong line up.
‘Private
Sessions’ to me has got just the right balance of light and dark or melodic and
heavy to theoretically, really make their mark.
‘Something
To Say’ opens things with some heavy riffs and then eases back a little and
enter Julie’s sultry vocals and it gets into a really catchy groove, without
doubt. At times a little Evanescence but then almost dare I say, Journey?!
Jeff
guitar solo sounds like Neal Schon stepped by to help out, a great opening
track. My only peeve really is the shouted, ‘I Want You To’ in the chorus, but
then again, you won’t forget it and certainly, that's the idea!
Next up
is the eerie starting ‘Forbidden Kind,’ almost X-Files like intro, before
getting into its rhythm. It generally retains a lot of the atmospheric sound
through the verses but picks up in almost prog rock fashion in the chorus. Nice
stuff.
‘Scream’
has an almost Def Leppard feel about it at times from the ‘X’ period, even a
little like ‘Cry’ chorus wise, which I’m not knocking at all. I really liked a
lot about the Def Leppard ‘X’ album, even if others knocked it.
Hydrogyn
though are certainly a little edgier than Leppard.
There’s
definitely an atmospheric sense about this album and no more so than on next
track ‘I Don’t Know How’ and Julie’s vocal really comes across kind of a cross
between Lee Aaron and Pat Benatar, yes that good!
This is
again another strong track and some of the opening third of the album, reminds
me of some of Steve Lukather’s solo work and then it grows and grows.
‘Heated
Night’s' next is really catchy indeed, at times with an AC/DC like riff, but
Julie’s vocals are killer, not just here but throughout. She’s certainly at her
best on ‘Private Sessions’ and Jeff’s solo work again on guitar, classy!
With
‘Creeper’ it starts with an edgy riff and drums and bass powering the tune
along and then Julie’s vocals come in strongly once again and the riff has
quite a hook to it. As the title suggests it kind of chugs, ‘creepily’ along
picking up in the chorus.
‘Don’t
cha Walk Away’ starts with some haunting piano and vocals and then, wham! The riff
kicks in and we’re off to rock’ville once more, edging along with a steady
groove.
Its power
ballad time with ‘Roseline’s Song’ sung in a very strong yet sultry manner,
again at times very reminiscent of Pat Benatar, very strong too. It’s a nicely
done number.
‘Feeling’
up next reflects light and dark, with some heavily accented guitars here and
there, at times not unlike Whitesnake and then eased back through the verses.
Another winner by me!
The
French sung ‘Un Monde
Perdu’ – One World, One Life – is commendable but I guess why?
A quite atmospheric number and the
press release for the album tells us nothing about the track, so make of it
what you will?
‘It Doesn’t Matter’ is another number in the
same vein as ‘Heated Nights.’ It rocks along nicely again with some great hooks
and still stunningly strong vocals from Julie. Nice solo from Jeff once more too.
The final
‘bonus’ track here is ‘Alone’ and no, it’s not the Heart song, but instead another
winning slice of rock, with perhaps a slight moodiness about it.
This
really is a great album for old fans of the band that have for years been
following the band’s development, but also for fans of well written, melodic hard
rock, that’s well sung and equally well presented! Enjoy!
Rating:
4 out of 5
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