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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