Released by: Frontiers Records

Release Date: October 14th, 2016

Genre: Melodic Rock

Links: https://www.facebook.com/TykettoTheOfficial/

Line Up:

Danny Vaughn – lead vocals
Michael Clayton Arbeeny – drums, percussion, vocals
Ged Rylands – keyboards, vocals
Chris Green – guitar, vocals
Chris Childs – bass guitar, vocals

Tracklist:

02.Big Money
03.Kick Like A Mule
04.Circle The Wagons
05.I Need It Now
06.Tearing Down The Sky
07.Letting Go
08.The Fastest Man Alive
09.Remember My Name
10.Sparks Will Fly
11.Scream
12.The Run

The reformation of Tyketto was widely embraced as a great thing by the AOR community back in 2008. Kind of an obscure-ish band formed in 1987, they really turned the music scene on its ear with the 1991 release of Don’t Come Easy on Geffen records and was widely viewed as a powerhouse debut that spelled great potential for the band, and is now hailed as one of the best examples of melodic AOR hard rock. Alas, though they did make a bit of a name for themselves, they never quite captured the music world like their talent deserved.

The rise of grunge didn’t help matters much either. After a paltry three albums and a couple of live (one of which was released later on prior to their reunion, and their third studio release featured the vocal talents of Steve Augeri who would later go on to front Journey) the band broke up without any indication they’d ever come back. Singer Danny Vaughn embarked on a stellar solo career and other side projects that kept him in fine shape, but it seemed as if Tyketto was no more. Their first release reunited, Dig In Deep in 2012, was a great return but had a strong country feel to it without going full blown. It still had that great melodic style the band was known for but had an underlying pop country thing going on.

Their follow-up is hitting the streets now and is a much stronger and muscular release, much closer to their roots. The album is called Reach and from the opening strains of the title track, you know already the country-ish thing from Dig In Deep appears to be, if not gone altogether, at the very least taking a backseat. I for one am glad. Not that I didn’t enjoy the last album, because I did, it just was a bit more laid back than I was hoping. “Reach” is followed by the equally rocking “Big Money” and “Kick Like A Mule,” giving this album even more energy than any of their past releases and showing that the band really knows how to rock it up as much as they can hold back and play poignant slower songs like “Letting Go” and “Circle the Wagons.” And just because they’ve kicked the heaviness up a notch doesn’t mean they’ve lost themselves entirely because the classic sound is still prevalent on tracks like “Remember My Name” and “Tearing Down the Sky.”

In my estimation, this is the return of Tyketto I was truly waiting on. Again, I truly loved the last album, but Reach is so much closer to the beginnings of this great band; it’s almost as if they have been rejuvenated from the response to the reunion and the touring and it has injected that extra something into them. Whatever it is, they need to keep doing it. This has been a favorite band of mine for a while now and I’m beyond stoked they’re back, but I’m even more happy with this amazing album.

Reviewer: Chris Martin