Released by Eonian Records – 2009

Review Added March 09, 2010

Released – March 16, 2009
Running Time: 41:00
Musical Style: Hard Rock/Metal/Glam
Links: http://www.myspace.com/officialcharlemagnepage

Tracklist
1. Secret Romeo
2. I Don’t Wanna Lie**
3. She’s Only Young
4. So Far Away**
5. Is It Ever Easy**
6. I’ve Got You
7. Chance is Calling
8. Last Chance
9. Wait and See
10. I’m Not That Easy**
11. I Wish I Knew**
Hot Tracks**

Raym Barrett – Vocals
Scott Oliver – Guitar
Lee Bryan – Bass
Ken Kowalski – Drums

I’m a sucker for lost music or tracks that have never seen the light of day, and personally I think that re capturing the spirit of a band’s years later can bring a whole new light to the music, and further expose some great and vastly underrated bands that never made it big as so many did in the early days of glam and metal in Hollywood. In this instance American based Eonian Records has been doing a markup job of releasing archival music from some old school hard rock and metal releases from that time period, here we feature one in Charlemagne.

Formed in 1987, the boys moved to Tinseltown and started jamming together by way of a guitar workshop and they soon found some really good chemistry and decided to burn up the local club scene, playing major clubs on the Sunset Strip and beyond. The era was impeccable, the clothes, the hair the guitar sheedwork was a prototypical staple of the genres, but not all bands manage to make it big and shine into the limelight like so many. Now thanks to Eonian Records, this great music compilation comes to light for all the world to re-live the glory days.

A perfect opening comes your way in “Secret Romeo”, which displays the trademark high flying choruses of hard rock bands during this time and in “I Don’t Wanna Lie” a dwelling power ballad rocker comes your way with a nice slow buildup churn, reminds you of some classic Skid Row stuff. The creeping thud in the opening sequence of “So Far Away” builds up some tension, soon to be unleashed with powerful vocal duties here from Raym Barrett who gives an inspire performance on this powerful track. What’s interesting here is that Charlemagne is not your prototypical hard rock sleaze group, they have a unique style, sounding very matured and confident, excellent musicianship, as songs like “Is It Ever Easy” and “I’ve Got You” show a more direct, mellow approach as opposed to the party hard hard attitude of the glam days.

Catching a one way ticket on the express ride to fame was not an option for Charlemagne, sure they would of loved to have been signed to a big record deal and let the people out there experience their music, but unfortunately the way industry worked, so many great bands never made it big but the the guys never let that deterred them as they went on to become a hot play in all big local clubs in the area. Now with these oustanding compilation packages, we get to appreciate and help us take a trip back in time to treasure this outstanding release from a band that should of received much more.

Written by Denys

Ratings Denys 8/10