{"id":41504,"date":"2014-06-15T08:19:05","date_gmt":"2014-06-15T13:19:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=41504"},"modified":"2014-06-15T08:19:05","modified_gmt":"2014-06-15T13:19:05","slug":"shakra-33-the-best-of-shakra-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/shakra-33-the-best-of-shakra-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Shakra | 33 \u2013 The Best of Shakra<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist\/News Editor —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"ShakraAfter nine studio albums over the course of a nearly two-decade career, it makes sense for Swiss melodic hard rockers Shakra to release a \u201cbest of\u201d collection, and like everything the band touches, they do it with style. 33 \u2013 The Best of Shakra<\/em> features (you guessed it) 33 songs covering all eras and lineups of the band, and has a few extras for the long time Shakra fans as well.<\/p>\n

33 touches on all of Shakra\u2019s studio albums, and even covers their live releases. The songs are presented in mostly reverse chronological order, so you\u2019ll hear the songs with John Prakesh on vocals first, then the Mark Fox material, and finally the older Pete Wiedmer tracks. This reverse progression makes for an interesting listening experience. Instead of tracking their evolution as a band, you go backwards, starting with the more metallic material and moving towards the more Gotthard-sounding melodic rock of the early Shakra discs. There are no real surprises, though a couple of the songs from 2005\u2019s Fall<\/em> have been newly remixed and they\u2019ve substituted live versions of a few of the early songs. This collection also features three brand new recordings, so even those who already own the Shakra discography will have a reason to pick up 33, or at least download (legaly, of course) the new tracks.<\/p>\n

The sound quality quite good throughout the collection, so it\u2019s obvious some tweaking was done to the older material to have it sound as good as the more recent tracks. Visually, this is a nicely put-together set as well. 33<\/em> comes in a gatefold digipack and the booklet features vintage photos, cover artwork of all the various Shakra releases (in order too!) and even lyrics for the new songs.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot to love about 33 \u2013 The Best of Shakra<\/em>. For newcomers to the band, or those who simply aren\u2019t willing to commit to buying nine separate studio albums, many of which are only available as expensive imports, 33<\/em> is the perfect way to get to know one of the best melodic hard rock bands in the European scene. Between the new tracks and the overall presentation, 33<\/em> is a worthwhile purchase for long time Shakra fans as well.<\/p>\n

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

Lineup:
\nThom Blumer (g)
\nThomas Muster (g)
\nRoger Tanner (d)
\nJohn Prakesh (v, 2009-2014)
\nMark Fox (v, 2002-2009)
\nPete Wiedmer (v, 1995-2001)
\nDominik Pfister (b, 2008-2014)
\nOli Linder (b, 2001-2008)
\nRoger Badertscher (b, 1995-2000)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\nDisc 1
\n1.\tBack on Track
\n2.\tLive For Today
\n3.\tThe Beacon
\n4.\tFor the Rest of My Days
\n5.\tStronger Than Ever
\n6.\tYesterday\u2019s Gone
\n7.\tLife Is Now
\n8.\tDream of Mankind
\n9.\tSave You From Yourself
\n10.\tWhen I See You
\n11.\tTrue B You
\n12.\tDear Enemy
\n13.\tAshes To Ashes
\n14.\tWhy
\n15.\tThe Journey
\n16.\tPlaying With Fire
\n17.\tLove Will Find a Way<\/p>\n

Disc 2
\n1.\tThe One
\n2.\tInferno
\n3.\tWalk On Water
\n4.\tChains of Temptation
\n5.\tTake Me Now
\n6.\tNow or Never
\n7.\tRising High
\n8.\tI Will Be There
\n9.\tToo Good For Me
\n10.\tTrapped
\n11.\tWhy Don\u2019t You Call Me
\n12.\tShe\u2019s My Pride
\n13.\tStranger
\n14.\tNothing To Lose
\n15.\tWho\u2019s Got the Rhythm
\n16.\tHands on the Trigger<\/p>\n

Label: AFM Records<\/p>\n

Website: www.shakra.ch<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: 9\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist\/News Editor — After nine studio albums over the course of a nearly two-decade career, it makes sense for Swiss melodic hard rockers Shakra to release a \u201cbest of\u201d collection, […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":41506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[9430,8645,2317,2847,2901,6665],"class_list":{"0":"post-41504","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-33-the-best-of-shakra","9":"tag-afm-records","10":"tag-cd-review","11":"tag-melodic-hard-rock","12":"tag-melodic-rock","13":"tag-shakra"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41504","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=41504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}