Hardline Leaving the End Open

by Justin Gaines
Staff Writer

Finally! It’s been seven years since Hardline’s appropriately-titled second album II (and that came a full decade after the band’s 1992 debut Double Eclipse), but the melodic rockers are back with another album, titled Leaving the End Open. Of course, given vocalist Johnny Gioeli’s very active career fronting Axel Rudi Pell’s band (who seem to issue a new album every year) and guitarist Josh Ramos’ recent Ramos/Hugo and China Blue projects, the delay is understandable. With a (mostly) all-new lineup (Gioeli is the only member who was on Double Eclipse, and Ramos was the only holdover from II), Leaving the End Open might as well be the work of a completely new band.

Leaving the End Open still feels like a Hardline album though, thanks in large part to Gioeli’s unique voice. It’s also immediately obvious that this is the work of a more mature, more capable Hardline. Instead of cocky, fun party rockers like Double Eclipse’s “Hot Cherie” and “Dr. Love”, is full of melodic, emotional, mid-tempo songs like “Bittersweet”, “Start Again” and “Before This”. Of course, those songs are so well-written and moving that you hardly care that they don’t have the old Hardline vibe. In fact, with Gioeli and Ramos matching each other melody for melody, “Before This” may be the single best song Hardline has ever written. There are still a few conventional rockers (“Pieces of Puzzles”) and ballads (“In This Moment”), but the majority of the album is somewhere in between, and that’s where really shines.

If you’re a fan of the earlier Hardline albums and/or Gioeli’s work with Axel Rudi Pell, this one is a no-brainer. Leaving the End Open is probably the most polished, mature, and best-written Hardline album to date, and one that just about any melodic rock fan will want to hear. Let’s just hope Hardline’s fourth album doesn’t take quite so long to arrive!

Label: Frontiers

Lineup:
Johnny Gioeli: Vocals
Josh Ramos: Guitars
Michael Ross: Keyboards
Jamie Brown: Bass
Atma Anur: Drums

Track Listing:
1. Voices
2. Falling Free
3. Start Again
4. Pieces of Puzzles
5. Bittersweet
6. She Sleeps in Madness
7. In This Moment
8. Give In to this Love
9. Before This
10. Hole in My Head
11. Leaving the End Open

Online: On MySpace

HRH Rating: 8.5/10