{"id":48326,"date":"2015-02-19T20:30:36","date_gmt":"2015-02-20T01:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=48326"},"modified":"2015-02-19T21:41:23","modified_gmt":"2015-02-20T02:41:23","slug":"tony-mills-over-my-dead-body-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2015\/tony-mills-over-my-dead-body-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Mills | Over My Dead Body<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Derric Miller<\/span>
\n– Managing Editor —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"tony_mills-overmydeadbodycover\"One of the greatest vocalists in rock and metal\u2014Tony Mills\u2014has just graced his fans with a brand new solo effort, Over My Dead Body<\/em>. Whether you are a fan of Mills because of Shy back in the day, or Siam, or projects like China Blue, or his monumental task of replacing Tony Harnell in TNT for a time, or his solo albums or any of his session work \u2026 well as you can see, his resume loudly speaks and sings for itself.<\/p>\n

Over My Dead Body<\/em> hits on all of Mills\u2019 former bands and projects, painting the music with his \u201870s, \u201880s, \u201890s and beyond influences. There\u2019s hues of Siam, swathes of \u201880s influences like Judas Priest and Queensryche, strokes of AOR, and brushes of everything else. It\u2019s a multi-faceted album that can be dark and gloomy, and then poppy and mainstream, like on \u201cSomewhere in London.\u201d<\/p>\n

It all begins with a dark, menacing voice \u2026 almost like Gandalf warning of orcs \u2026 with the sentence \u201cYou have reached the gates of your own Hell. The chains were forged by you alone. Save your prayers, for God hears you no longer!\u201d Nice to meet you too, Mr. Mills! \u201cTime Won\u2019t Wait\u201d isn\u2019t as bleak musically as that, but the lyrics are biting and caustic throughout, especially on lines like \u201cHere comes the pain and here comes the warning!\u201d It\u2019s a heavy (in more ways than one) intro to Over My Dead Body.<\/em><\/p>\n

The words \u201cTripping the light fantastics nothing\u201d blares at you at the onset of \u201c28 Flights.\u201d This is an upbeat, blazing song that is softened by keys from Eric Ragno and of course, Mills\u2019 vocals. His versatility shines all over Over My Dead Body<\/em>, and to hear him race along and later, put an edge in his voice and lower it on the lyrics \u201cI\u2019m gonna find me a another way\u201d at the end of the song speaks to that vibe.<\/p>\n

The first single from the new album was \u201cWe Should Be On By Now.\u201d It\u2019s orchestral, it has the pageantry of a Queen hit, and it\u2019s a risky first single because don\u2019t listeners need to be spoon fed the most accessible and syrupy track initially? Mills went the other direction, trusting his fans can digest diverse and complicated compositions. When it starts, just keys, Mills, and strong backing vocals, then soars to the chorus, it\u2019s majestic. It may be the most lyrically intelligent song as well, especially on lines like \u201cWe should be on by now, with a light of inspiration in our eyes \u2026 even when it dies.\u201d It\u2019s a call to arms, to stop waiting for tomorrow, because after enough tomorrows, you are dead.<\/p>\n

Mills co-wrote \u201cNo Love Lost\u201d with Paul Sabu, who owns a strong resume in his own right. You get an AOR vibe from this one, with massive backing vocals and a bunch of snark. The song is basically about some arse who breaks hearts and is hated in his hometown. But it goes further than that on lines like \u201cAnd where you\u2019ll go, no one cares to know\u201d and the funniest line, \u201cOnly \u2018Go, Fuck You\u2019 on the road signs and poison driving your mind.\u201d Whomever this song is written about, or if it\u2019s just a caricature, it\u2019s mean as hell, in a good way.<\/p>\n

One of the most interesting tracks is \u201cBitter Suite,\u201d that sounds like a religious hymnal. It seems like someone has been to a Catholic mass or two. \u201cReassures me, with a sigh and he opens the sky, to the light \u2026\u201d well, you don\u2019t have to reach too far to realize this is about life and death and Mills own health issues, which he has overcome.<\/p>\n

You are going to get an \u201880s vibe from the guitars on \u201c4 in the Morning.\u201d It\u2019ll remind you of his project China Blue, a band he played with Ragno in. The chorus is the most melodic on the album, or tied for first, and it\u2019s not as dark as many of the other compositions on Over My Dead Body<\/em>. It\u2019s a standout track on a standout album.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomewhere in London\u201d Mills has stated is likely the next single. It\u2019s a bit of the opposite of \u201cWe Should Be On By Now,\u201d both musically and lyrically. It\u2019s hard not to compare Mills to Steve Perry sometimes, especially when he sings completely \u201cclean,\u201d as he does here. It\u2019s a song of loss, looking back with fond memories of someone who is no longer in your life, and paints a vivid portrait of London with references to Soho, Portland Place, and Bayswater Road.<\/p>\n

\u201cFree Spirits\u201d is the appropriate ending to Over My Dead Body. As much of the album touches on, it\u2019s about living your life, dammit! But it\u2019s really about LOVING your life while you are still here as well. The line \u201cBut the holding of a hand, is the promise of a better land,\u201d coupled with \u201cI don\u2019t know if there is light, after your life\u201d cements that sentiment. So while some of the album is dark, it culminates in asking the listener to just find happiness.<\/p>\n

None of this lyrical acumen, great songwriting, or star-studded band components would matter a whit if Mills wasn\u2019t such a great singer. But he is a great singer. So when all of the elements work this well together, you have one of the best albums of the year. That album is Over My Dead Body<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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

Band:
\nDrums – Andreas Nergard
\nBass – Andreas Passmark, Victor Borge, Henning Ramseth.
\nFretless – Neil Kernon
\nGuitars – Paul Sabu, Robert Sall, Henning Ramseth.
\nKeys – Douglas Docker, Robert Sall, Eric Ragno and Henning Ramseth
\nVocals – Tony Mills and Douglas Docker<\/p>\n

Track List:
\n1. Time Won’t Wait
\n2. 28 Flights
\n3. We Should Be On By Now
\n4. No Love Lost
\n5. Gate 21
\n6. My Death
\n7. Bitter Suite
\n8. 4 In The Morning
\n9. Northern Star
\n10. Somewhere In London
\n11. Free Spirits<\/p>\n

Label: Battlegod Productions<\/p>\n

Website: www.tonymills-official.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 8.9\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Derric Miller – Managing Editor — One of the greatest vocalists in rock and metal\u2014Tony Mills\u2014has just graced his fans with a brand new solo effort, Over My Dead Body. Whether you are a […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":48327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12394],"tags":[10808,2317,1103,2267,10807,10809,8480,10806],"class_list":{"0":"post-48326","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2015","8":"tag-battlegod-productions","9":"tag-cd-review","10":"tag-hard-rock","11":"tag-metal","12":"tag-over-my-dead-body","13":"tag-shy","14":"tag-tnt","15":"tag-tony-mills"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48326","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=48326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}