Mecca | Undeniable
by Ron & Don Higgins
Staff Writer —
Undeniable, commonly referred to as Mecca II, is the excellent follow-up to Mecca’s brilliant debut release nine years ago. Calling this album a labor of love is an understatement, as it took six years to complete (songwriting began back in 2005) and it was completely re-recorded a whopping three times! Fortunately, the labor was worth it as they have once again turned out a melodic rock tour de force.
In 2002, Mecca exploded onto the scene with an AOR masterpiece featuring the talents of singer/songwriter Joe Vana, David Hungate and Fergie Frederiksen of Toto fame and ex-Survivor legend Jim Peterik. It took the melodic rock world by storm and quickly became a litmus test for all future AOR releases. After the amazing success of the first album, main man Joe Vana began writing songs with Swedish guitarist Christian Wolff and, several years later, renowned guitarist Tommy Denander. The road to the second record was a bit bumpy at times due to some unforeseen and unfortunate circumstances, not the least of which was the death of co-producer/engineer Bryan Mitchell.
Mecca’s second album kicks off in grand fashion with a perfect song titled, “Perfect World” about everyone’s never-ending quest for perfection. It’s an excellent song, starting off with heavy keyboards and then Joe’s amazing vocals. It has an extremely catchy chorus, and top-notch production. This song alone pretty much captures the beauty and essence of the entire album. It’s exactly what you would expect from Mecca and, for that matter, Frontiers.
Other standout tracks include “10Life (Ten Lifetimes)”, “I Know”, “Did It for Love”, “Deceptive Cadence”, “W2W” and “Undeniable”. “10Life (Ten Lifetimes)” is a rocking love song that starts off with some blistering guitar work reminiscent of George Lynch. Part way through, the tempo changes and it slows down until it hits the chorus where it picks back up. The chorus, “I’d wait 10 lifetimes. Let me out of this jail of the heart. Don’t you know that true love isn’t far?” is quite memorable and clearly expresses the singer’s romantic affections for the unnamed object of his affection. Musically, it harkens back to “Silence of the Heart” from their debut. “I Know” features some stellar backing vocals. It’s a straight- ahead rocker with excellent guitar work once again. Lyrically, it’s a song about perseverance. “Did It For Love” features a slower piano and keyboard intro. Once the guitars kick in it really shines. The pounding drums are quite good as well. They have a clear, crisp sound with lots of fills. And par for the course, this one features another memorable chorus, “… you’ll know I did it for love.” It ends the way it begins, with a nice piano outro. Although most songs on this fine album deal with romantic love, this song is all about the love of the art of making music. Mr. Vana sums it up nicely this way: “music has to be about MUSIC….NOT money…when it becomes that, you to me become all I dislike about this business.” “Deceptive Cadence” is a lovely ballad and another ode to love. This is Joe’s favorite song that he has ever written, which should tell you something. The keyboards really shine on this one. Yet another standout track is the rocking “W2W”. “W2W” stands for “Wire to Wire” which is a fun little tune about a car race. This is one of the heaviest tracks on offer, providing smile-inducing, fist-pumping pleasure. Finally, the title track “Undeniable” is simply classic AOR with Joe using his powerful voice to profess his love for the album’s unnamed inspiration.
Although this tremendous album features mostly stellar hits, there are a few misses. “Closing Time” has some nice crunchy rhythm guitar and incredible singing again, but features much too heavy keyboards, including the keyboard intro that sounds as if Paula Abdul is about to get funky with a cartoon cat. “From the Start” also contains some unusual keyboard sounds akin to the sound Darth Vader might make while running a vacuum cleaner. And “Life’s Too Short” is actually a nice song with some great lead and backing vocals and harmonies but starts with a spoken word element with the singer speaking in a whisper. Creative, to be sure, but not in a pleasant way. The bass work by Tony Levin on this particular tune is outstanding, however.
The album wraps up in fine fashion with an interesting solo piece featuring Joe’s vocals and just a piano with a single short guitar solo in the middle. It is an extremely passionate song and very emotional. A highlight from an album of highlights.
Overall, this is a fabulous piece of work and establishes Mecca as a true AOR force. The production is top-notch and the vocals are impeccable. On the first album, Joe split vocals with Fergie Frederiksen but this time around he has to carry the torch alone, and carry it he does. Joe’s son Joey also does a nice job singing backup and the guitar playing on this album is first-rate. The keyboards are front-and-center which sometimes is a good thing and sometimes, well, not so much. Regardless, this is an exquisite album and a must-buy for anyone that’s a fan of great melodic rock music in the vein of Survivor, Toto, Journey or Pride of Lions.
Band:
Joe Vana
Joey Vana
Mark Alano
Wally Hustin
Rick Vitek
Brian Moritz
Eric Ragno
Additional Musicians:
Tommy Denander
Christian Wolff
Tony Levin
Pat Mastelotto
Track Listing:
1. Perfect World
2. Closing Time
3. 10life
4. Life’s Too Short
5. I Know
6. Did It For Love
7. From The Start
8. Deceptive Cadence
9. W2W
10. Undeniable
11. As I Walk Alone
Label: Frontiers Records
Hardrock Haven Rating: 8.9/10