{"id":34900,"date":"2013-11-19T17:54:15","date_gmt":"2013-11-19T22:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=34900"},"modified":"2014-02-08T08:38:47","modified_gmt":"2014-02-08T13:38:47","slug":"now-or-never-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2013\/now-or-never-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Now Or Never | Now Or Never<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Matt Karpe<\/span>
\n– Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"NowNow Or Never\u2019s self-titled debut finds a group of musicians, already masters of their craft through various stints in other bands, joining forces to fuse hard rock and heavy metal together in storming fashion.<\/p>\n

\u201cReach Out For The Sky\u201d is a sensational opener, and the rollicking intro shows us exactly what we are to expect in the next fifty-plus minutes. Ricky Marx\u2019s guitar riffs are heavy as (insert your own word here), and Fabian Ranzoni thrashes the drums as if his life depends on it. Pat Liotard adds some good key work and interesting sound effects whilst Kenn Jackson\u2019s bass puts the finishing touches to a very talented group of musicians. This is all brought upon the listener before we finally get to hear Jo Amore and his powerful vocals. One moment snarling, the other singing in high pitched melody, you could be forgiven for thinking Rob Halford has joined another band, such is the similarity. <\/p>\n

\u201cNow Or Never\u201d (the song) has some good bass work and electronic sampling, and again the drums are a dominating force..
\n\u201cWind Of Freedom\u201d is a brilliant modern metal song. The chorus is huge and melodic, and the drums and guitar riffs are more simplified, but maybe that is what makes this song sound so good, and this is more likely to be the most accessible song for new listeners.<\/p>\n

\u201cHardened Steel\u201d has another good chorus, very Judas Priest-like in its delivery, but made to sound original, and it is another highlight of the album.<\/p>\n

There is a good mixture on show on the twelve tracks here, as \u201cBrothers\u201d is, in part due to Liotard\u2019s sound effects, a heavy industrial influenced song. \u201cAn Angel By My Side\u201d is an 80s\u2019 style power ballad which is slow and haunting, and \u201cSomething\u2019s Missing\u201d is a beautiful acoustic ballad. Amore\u2019s vocals are strong and impressionable on a stripped down song that still somehow oozes atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately there are a few filler songs, \u201cHow Do You Feel\u201d and \u201cDying For You\u201d are musically very good but they meander to an unspectacular finale, as does \u201cWho\u2019s In The Mirror\u201d, but with the amount of sheer quality on show, it was maybe inevitable that Now Or Never would slightly run out of steam as the album progresses.<\/p>\n

Nightmare, Sultan and Pretty Maids are all bands worth checking out if you want to hear more of the artists that make Now Or Never, but if this band are to become a full time gig, then maybe this is all you will want to hear because this may be one of the heaviest and most thunderous albums released in 2013.<\/p>\n

Genre: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nJo Amore: Vocals
\nRicky Marx- Guitar
\nKenn Jackson- Bass
\nFabian Ranzoni- Drums
\nPat Liotard- Keys, Sound Effects, Backing Vocals<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tReach Out For The Sky
\n2.\tNow Or Never
\n3.\tWind Of Freedom
\n4.\tBrothers
\n5.\tHardened Steel
\n6.\tPrincess Of Undiscovered Land
\n7.\tAn Angel By My Side
\n8.\tHow Do You Feel
\n9.\tDying For You
\n10.\tWho\u2019s In The Mirror
\n11.\tSomething\u2019s Missing
\n12.\tWeirdo Lullaby (Outro)<\/p>\n

Record Label: Mausoleum Records<\/p>\n

Website: www.now-or-noever.ch<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: 7\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Matt Karpe – Columnist — Now Or Never\u2019s self-titled debut finds a group of musicians, already masters of their craft through various stints in other bands, joining forces to fuse hard rock and heavy […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":34901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8704],"tags":[2317,1103,2491,6323],"class_list":{"0":"post-34900","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2013","8":"tag-cd-review","9":"tag-hard-rock","10":"tag-heavy-metal","11":"tag-mausoleum-records"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}