As the official launch date of "3" approaches (11/02/2010), advanced copies of the disc have made it out into the world already for review and airplay.
Today, we received our first review to be published from our friends at StrutterZine inThe Netherlands.
We will post this soon on our new Sweet Crystal web pages (also coming in November), but in the meantime, here's a peak at what our international listeners are saying. Thanks to Gabor, a long time supporter of all things Crystal.
SWEET CRYSTAL ‘3’ (NIGHTCRIER MUSIC/TATE MUSIC GROUP/USA IMPORT)
Well, well, well, that is a long time ago… the Christian AOR band SWEET CRYSTAL makes a return with a new CD titled ‘3’. In the past we reviewed them a few times and if I remember it well, we even interviewed them. That was about 10+ years ago and now from out of nowhere the band returns with a full-length new CD and gladly musically nothing has changed. The band is still playing pure 1980s AOR with some Pomprock touches, reminding a lot of the last couple of SWEET COMFORT BAND, SERVANT and early ALLIES records, while also JOURNEY/SURVIVOR are clear similarities, but even FAITH NATION, WHITE HEART and early 80s PETRA come to mind when listening to their new album.
That means this is pretty much a dream for the AOR fans out there and I can honestly inform you this album is filled with high class AOR music from start to finish. It contains everything we want to hear in this genre, such as picture perfect clean vocalwork, catchy hooks, memorable melodies, smooth pompous keyboards, melodic guitarwork and a very strong rhythm section. The first 2 songs (“Holding our own” and “By the book”) are 2 great uptempo AOR rockers with a SURVIVOR meets JOURNEY kinda approach.
“Prisoner unbound” takes the band into an epic symphonic Pomprock direction that reminds me a bit of MAGNUM in their finest years. This is a haunting song with some superb arrangements and lovely vocalwork, actually really quite amazing tune we have here! Some URIAH HEEP (JOHN LAWTON era) can be heard during the semi-rocker “Got to get you into my life”, which is a very 1970s type of Classic Rocker, although the song itself is actually a THE BEATLES original! Up next is the beautiful WHITE HEARTish AOR ballad “Warriors” that has some very strong harmonyvocals, partly thanks to guest female singer KATHY OYSTER. Mid 1980s Pomprock meets Symphonic AOR can be heard in the excellent epic midtempo “Lion of Juddah” that sounds like the perfect cross between the later 1980s MAGNUM, GTR and PETRA circa 1984. Both “Another time, another place” and “US, Eternally” take the mid 80s JOURNEY/FORTUNE/SURVIVOR/ASIA highway all the way, so this is pure uptempo AOR, while closing track “The road less travelled” is a nice semi-ballad that sounds a bit like JOHN WETTON and JOHN PAYNE’s ASIA. The other 3 tracks are short instrumentals…
When listening to all these songs it is very clear that SWEET CRYSTAL is an incredible gifted band with a sound that should be heard by any fan of AOR, Pomp or even Symphonic Rock, because the high quality of their songs is remarkable and sometimes sounding as if they were classics made in the golden years of this genre (the 1980s). Mix up all the mentioned bands and you have SWEET CRYSTAL, must-have for any AOR fan out there. Togther with an excellent production, this CDR should be checked out asap at: www.sweetcrystal.com
