{"id":39313,"date":"2014-04-10T18:21:40","date_gmt":"2014-04-10T23:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=39313"},"modified":"2014-04-10T18:21:40","modified_gmt":"2014-04-10T23:21:40","slug":"three-lions-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/three-lions-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Lions | Three Lions<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska<\/span>
\n– Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"ThreeTake a three-piece band, consisting of two-thirds of the musicians whose legendary status has already been deservedly attained in the melodic rock scene. Add some classic rock inspirations and brilliant songwriting. Stir together with a producer with the apparent Midas touch and spice up with some infectious, catchy melodies and solid instrumental backing. This \u2018recipe\u2019 was followed by a newly formed British power trio Three Lions closely enough to result in a perfect AOR-melodic rock album. With their line-up featuring the Vinny Burns (Ten, Dare, Asia) on guitar\/keyboards, Greg Morgan (Ten, Dare) on drums, and a talented singer\/bassist Nigel Bailey \u2013 and Alessandro Del Vecchio behind the console (his above Midas touch engaged also in some of the songwriting), Three Lions release their self-titled debut via Frontiers Records (yes, for the sake of the recipe). And the result of what they\u2019ve rustled up in the studio is simply stunning.<\/p>\n

In the first track, \u201cTrouble In A Red Dress\u201d, the lyrical ego narrates: \u201c\u2026 She came to the party after the show \u2026 isn\u2019t that how the trouble starts\u2026?\u201d The story goes on, illustrated with a brilliant, infectious melody and a rich guitar work; it\u2019s pure AOR\/melodic rock which might as well be released thirty years ago. <\/p>\n

\u201cHold Me Down\u201d is more mellow, a lite AOR mid-tempo song; with \u201cTwisted Soul\u201d, the band delivers a dose of feisty, guitar-oriented melodic rock with a catchy chorus. The latter\u2019s follow-up \u201cWinter Sun\u201d explodes with wailing guitar sounds, developing into a wistful piece of wonderful balladry. With the guitar-laden melancholy slowly fading, the next thing the listener\u2019s treated with is \u201cJust A Man\u201d \u2013 a dynamic, yet polished song with harmonized vocals, the one that could end up on any Survivor or, especially, Jimi Jamison\u2019s solo albums. <\/p>\n

Groovy guitars and a great hook of \u201cHoly Water\u201d precede a soaring power ballad \u201cTwo Hearts Beat As One\u201d; particularly interesting is the storytelling track \u201cKathmandu\u201d starting off with an oriental, Eastern-influenced intro and based on a slower, lumbering riff. \u201cMade For One Another\u201d is a maudlin power ballad, clich\u00e9d, yet still able to evoke a picture of thousand lighters held up in the air\u2026 and maybe, a tear or two from more sentimental listeners. <\/p>\n

The next track \u201cMagdalene\u201d is Magnum Vigilante\/Goodnight L.A.-era revisited, a keyboard-driven, hooky rocker followed up by \u201cDon\u2019t Let Me Fall\u201d \u2013 which initially seems to be another piece of schmaltzy sentimentality, and yet, turns into a nice and polished semi-ballad with a great melody. There is also \u201cHellfire Highway\u201d \u2013 an intense, hooky keyboard-and-guitar-duel kind of song with massive chorus, another AOR masterpiece \u2013 and the final \u201cSicilian Kiss\u201d, a piece of sublime instrumental wizardry with a bit darker and somewhat dramatic vibes to it. It\u2019s a beautiful guitar-oriented coda to the well-crafted musical masterpiece.<\/p>\n

Three Lions\u2019 self-titled album is a perfect balance between instrumental prowess and great melodies, catchy hooks and dynamic guitar work, with not so distant echoes of where two of the three musicians come from music-wise (Dare, Ten). Speaking shortly, it\u2019s what album-oriented rock should stand for in the first place and as long as you\u2019re into AOR, no matter if you think classics such as Survivor and Journey or 21st century representatives of the genre, you\u2019re going to love this one. Highly recommended not only for Dare or Ten fans \u2013 go Lions!<\/p>\n

Genre: Melodic Rock, AOR<\/p>\n

Band:
\nNigel Bailey \u2013 lead vocal and bass
\nGreg Morgan \u2013 drums
\nVinny Burns \u2013 guitars, keyboards<\/p>\n

Tracklist:
\n1. Trouble In A Red Dress
\n2. Hold Me Down
\n3. Twisted Soul
\n4. Winter Sun
\n5. Just A Man
\n6. Holy Water
\n7. Two Hearts Beat As One
\n8. Kathmandu
\n9. Made For One Another
\n10. Magdalene
\n11. Don\u2019t Let Me Fall
\n12. Hellfire Highway
\n13. Sicilian Kiss<\/p>\n

Label: Frontiers Records<\/p>\n

Website: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/threelionsuk<\/a><\/p>\n

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

by Alexandra Mrozowska – Columnist — Take a three-piece band, consisting of two-thirds of the musicians whose legendary status has already been deservedly attained in the melodic rock scene. Add some classic rock inspirations and […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":39315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[8939,2317,374,2901,9095,9096],"class_list":{"0":"post-39313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-aor","9":"tag-cd-review","10":"tag-frontiers-records","11":"tag-melodic-rock","12":"tag-three-lions","13":"tag-vinny-burns"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39313","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=39313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}