Released by: Frontiers Records

Release Date: Out Now!!!

Genre: Hard Rock

Line Up:

Paul Laine – vocals
Bruno Ravel – bass guitar, guitars, keyboards
Rob Marcello – lead guitars
With
Van Romaine – drums

Tracklist:

01. Intro (For A Few Dollars More – Carillon’s Theme)
02. Love And Bullets
03. When The Lights Go Down
04. Waiting On A Heartbreak
05. Runaway
06. Lil’ Miss Rock’N’roll
07. Last Kiss
08. Save Me Tonight
09. Take Me Back
10. We All Fall
11. That’s When I’ll Stop Loving You
12. Underneath The Stars

The Defiants is a new band hitting the scene that have the potential to make a pretty big splash in the AOR/melodic hard rock world. It certainly helps that three of the four members are not only seasoned veterans, but have all worked together prior to this band, nearly securing a definite chemistry. The names Bruno Ravel, Paul Laine, and Rob Marcello are pretty well known in my life having been a part of some pretty outstanding projects I’ve loved so much, but the one band that brought them together has been one I’ve been a fan of since the beginning, and that is Danger Danger. Often lambasted as cookie cutter hair metal, personally I thought they added much more to the music world than just hair, as the songs were super catchy, instantly memorable, and were performed excellently by some very skilled musicians. During the Laine years of D2 the band matured greatly, while still putting out excellent music. This new project is the best of both worlds.

Their s/t debut is a no holds barred, unrepentant, and in your face melodic assault with tremendous guitar hooks, huge harmony chorus’, brilliant fretwork, and the masterful voice of Paul Laine. Adding Van Romaine on drums, the band sound like they have been a fully functioning unit for decades. From the opening track (after the intro) “Love and Bullets,” through other instant classics as “Waiting On A Heartbreak,” “The Last Kiss,” “We All Fall Down,” and the last track “Underneath the Stars” The Defiants not only tap into their wealth of talent and knowledge of this genre, but turn it on its ear injecting it with some oomph keeping it absolutely relevant to today’s standards.

This album is a total juggernaut of AOR greatness that I have greatly missed. There are still bands out there making this type of music and doing it well enough, but The Defiants are grabbing it by the throat and taking command of it once and for all. Without a doubt one of the best albums released this year so far, this is going to be a tough one to beat. Hearing an album of this magnitude when I wasn’t expecting to was a pleasant surprise.

Written by: Chris Martin