Melodic Rock
Frontiers Music srl
Release Date December 9th 2022
Line Up:
Nevena Dordevic – All Vocals/Piano
Michael Palace – All Instruments/Production/Backing Vocals
Tracklist:
1 – Bulletproof
2 – Bad Sun Rising
3 – Straight Into Madness
4 – Too Late
5 – Writers Block
6 – Miracles
7 – You Two
8 – Fire In Me
9 – Brand New Heart
10 – Veil On The Mirror
11 – Outrageous
Nevena Dordevic is a Serbian singer/songwriter/pianist/educator who has appeared in musical theatre plus worked in jazz, pop, and rock. She found fame in the Serbian talent show ‘The First Voice Of Serbia’. Having made her way through her musical training she decided to enroll in the Berklee School of Music in Boston where members of Dream Theater once studied. She performed in various leading roles at Berklee, and this brought her to the attention of Frontiers who put her in the more than capable hands of producer/songwriter/musician Mike Palace. And here we have the fruits of their labor.
Bright keys and a gritty guitar introduce ‘Bulletproof’ and it’s immediately apparent why Frontiers took a chance. Nevena has a wonderfully clear voice in the vein of Pat Benatar and Lee Aaron. There are loads of ‘Ooooaah’s’ and some strong hooks before the pristine polished pop-rock of ‘Bad Sun Rising’ and ‘Straight Into Madness’. ‘Too Late’ starts with a funky groove before it opens up into rockier territory with some stabbing keys then we get the stop-start of ‘Writers Block’ which has a glorious full melody and some excellent fills. ‘Miracle’ is the piano-led power ballad before the bright and poppy ‘You Two’ then we get a bit ballsier on ‘Fire In Me’ which has a whole load of FM-style fist pumping. Things get a bit darker and moodier with ‘Brand New Heart’ and the awesome rocker ‘Veil In The Mirror’ which has hit written all over it. ‘Outrageous’ ends things with a synth-heavy melodic chugger.
Frontiers have produced another ‘as expected’ collaboration. Palace plays all the instruments expertly and the production is polished to a high shine without sounding sterile. Nevena has a fine voice that shows some range but at times I think she was playing safe when she could have shown a bit more power. This is classy AOR of the highest order.
Score: 7/10
Reviewed by: Smudge