Released by: Frontiers Music
Genre: Hard Rock
Release date: 14 October 2016
Links: https://www.facebook.com/keemarcello/
Line Up:
Kee Marcello – Guitar/Keys/Vocals
Ken Sandin – Bass
Darby Todd – Drums
Tracklist:
Black Hole Star
On the Radio
Don’t Miss You Much
Fix Me
Wild Child
Finger on the Trigger
Soldier Down
Scandinavia
Good Men gone bad
Scaling Up
Don’t Know How to Love No More
Blow by Blow
Kee Marcello is back with a bang with this album. The former Europe guitarist has taken all his years of experience to write, produce and arrange Scaling Up. Yes, there is some resemblance with some Europe songs, but that is to be expected. This resemblance is only really coming through fully on a couple of songs, mainly Wild Child and Don’t Know How to Love. This may have something to do with these tracks being Europe Demos, and Kee Marcello has re-arranged and re-recorded them for this solo album.
The album opens up with Black Hole Star and sets the hard rock tone for the rest of the album, with a toe-tapping, head-nodding song, Kee Marcello’s vocals are clear and strong, complimented by his guitar work. On The Radio continues this theme, referencing Journey in the lyrics, this is slightly slower tempo than the album opener, but just as enjoyable.
Fix Me adds a touch of sleaze to Kee’s hard rock, before returning to his Europe days with Wild Child. Michele Luppi guests on keyboards on this track, which adds to the nostalgic feel of it.
Soldier Down picks the tempo back up, with a full on bouncy 5:22 of pure hard rock and a simply self-gratifying guitar solo. The hard rock continues through the album, with Mattias Eklundh guesting on guitar for the resurrected Good Men Gone Bad. The title song is up next, at track 10 it seems we have been waiting forever to hear it.
Opening with a riff that does what all good riffs should, continuing throughout the song, although this is possibly the most forgettable track on the album as the lyrics are repetitive and make the 3min track seem a lot longer than it is. The album closes with Blow by Blow, which having a similar feel as the opening track, bookends this album nicely.
There is nothing groundbreaking about this album, but it is a great hard rock album, with Kee Marcello’s expertise and experience easily pulling together a collection of songs that most other bands would be jealous of.
Reviewer: Kalli Isborne
Rating: 8/10
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