Monday, September 5, 2016

50SHR #44: Starbreaker (Utah)


50 STATES OF HARD ROCK #44: UTAH



Band: Starbreaker
Release: Love's Dying Wish
Year: 2008
Line-up: Tony Harnell (vocals), Magnus Karlsson (guitars), Jonni Lightfoot (bass), John Macaluso (drums).

Track Listing:
1.  End of Alone  
 
2.  Evaporate  
 
3.  Love's Dying Wish  
 
4.  Unknown Superstar  
 
5.  Hide  
6.  Building a Wall  
 
7.  Beautiful Disaster  
8.  Live Your Life  
 
9.  Hello, Are You Listening?  
 
10.  Changes Me  
 
11.  The Day Belongs to Us  
 
12.  This Close  






Fletchanator's comment: Okay, so Starbreaker aren't actually from Utah, but bassist Jonni Lightfoot is one of the state's most prolific musicians and I wanted to include something featuring him. Lightfoot was originally in a Salt Lake City hair metal band called Skit Skat in the 1990s, but sadly I've been unable to lay my hands on a copy of their work. He was also with soft-rockers Air Supply from 2001 until recently, but their music doesn't really fit on this blog. So Starbreaker it is!
A side-project of former TNT and (blink and you'll miss it) Skid Row vocalist Tony Harnell, Starbreaker has released two albums so far (the first featuring a different bassist). Joining Harnell and Lightfoot are Harnell's TNT bandmate Macaluso on drums and guitarist Magnus Karlsson, who has worked a lot with Norwegian singer Jorn Lande.
Love's Dying Wish has that typical modern sound - well-polished, lots of harmonies - and unfortunately like a lot of 2000s releases the guitar gets lost in the mix, resulting in some of the songs sounding more akin to Evanesence than classic hair metal. But Harnell is a great singer and there is enough good hard rockin' material here to make it a worthwhile listen.

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