{"id":49830,"date":"2015-07-12T11:57:50","date_gmt":"2015-07-12T16:57:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=49830"},"modified":"2015-07-12T11:57:50","modified_gmt":"2015-07-12T16:57:50","slug":"michael-bormann-closer-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2015\/michael-bormann-closer-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Bormann | Closer<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"MichaelWith Michael Bormann\u2019s new solo material being finally finished, recorded and released, one could have treated his last year\u2019s \u201cbest of ballads\u201d compilation Love Is Magic<\/em> as a postscriptum \u2013 or a rundown \u2013 to a finished chapter. Closer<\/em>, his fifth solo effort, thus starts a new one. This obviously doesn\u2019t mean there are no ballads on the new album (it\u2019s just the other way around really) and Michael Bormann is perhaps the last person who could have abandoned his Melodic Hard Rock roots in favor of a fleeting musical fad. However, both music and lyric-wise, Closer is quite far from a collection of tearful, sentimental ballads (pun intended). It\u2019s Bormann, one of the best singers in his league, at his best instead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m Not Your Entertainment\u201d is the aforementioned track number one, a dynamic, straightforward Hard Rock piece that deftly combines contemporary guitar riffs with a well-crafted, melodic chorus. And although it\u2019s hard to call the song a throwback to the past of any sorts \u2013 it somehow corresponds with one of the best post-heartbreak songs Bormann\u2019s former band Jaded Heart has ever recorded, \u201cHating You\u201d off their 2004 album Trust. There\u2019s some nice live vibe and a vintage flavor to the groovy follow-up \u201cLet\u2019s Make History.\u201d <\/p>\n

What \u201cNever Say Die\u201d brings with itself is a bit of cinematographic feel to it; the song is a picturesque mid-tempo vignette built around a soaring vocal melody (the instruments relegated mostly to the background, with the exception of talk box solo). A different story altogether is \u201cCan\u2019t Get A Touch Too Much\u201d \u2013 it starts off as an apparent flirtation with contemporary Blues\/Country musical aesthetics only to develop into a rap pastiche further embroidered with R&B-infused choruses. Surprising as it may be, it\u2019s hard to consider the track a bland one.<\/p>\n

A ballad-esque \u201cBecause We Are The World\u201d is closer to \u201cNever Say Die\u201d than its immediate predecessor as deliberate instrumental frugality allows a listener to focus almost solely on the powerful vocals (both lead and background, the latter provided by the children choir in a heart-tugging manner). \u201cLiving It Up\u201d and \u201cI Wanna Be A Rockstar\u201d mark a rapid return into the contemporary Melodic Hard Rock sphere, again not really far from early Jaded Heart or Bormann\u2019s previous solo efforts. <\/p>\n

Next goes \u201cFor This One Time In Life\u201d that juxtaposes ballad-ish verses with feisty riffs and melodic choruses, followed by the eponymous piano-based ballad. Things get heavier again with \u201cRich Men\u2019s World\u201d and guitar-laden \u201cDown To The Bottle\u201d \u2013 especially the latter. The last track on the album is Bormann\u2019s own take on soaring ballad \u201cWarrior\u201d originally done by pop starlet Demi Lovato. It hasn\u2019t been given too much of a twist musically but is, above all, an impressive vocal performance and also, a fond reminiscence of the Bormann\u2019s recent tenure in the TV talent show The Voice Of Germany.<\/p>\n

Closer<\/em> is anything you could have expected from Michael Bormann\u2019s going solo again and doing it in style \u2013 well-crafted Melodic Hard Rock with a contemporary twist, but also a timeless value of melody. Perhaps more of an addition to a fan\u2019s expanding record collection than an opus magnum to the German singer\u2019s catalog \u2013 but if for some reason you\u2019re a Melodic Rock\/Hard Rock fan oblivious to the existence of such bands as Jaded Heart, J. R. Blackmore Group, Charade, Redrum or Silent Force, you may as well start with Closer<\/em>. This new chapter still sounds like a great story we are going to be told.<\/p>\n

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

Band:
\nMichael Bormann \u2013 drums, bass, keyboards, guitar & lead guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals
\nJean Bormann \u2013 guitars, backing vocals
\nMarco Grasshoff \u2013 keyboards, backing vocals
\nEric Ragno \u2013 keyboards
\nBobby St\u00f6cker \u2013 lead guitar
\nKatie Juraschka – backing vocals<\/p>\n

Track List:
\n1. I\u2019m Not Your Entertainment
\n2. Let\u2019s Make History
\n3. Never Say Die
\n4. Can\u2019t Get A Touch Too Much
\n5. Because We Are The World
\n6. Living It Up
\n7. I Wanna Be A Rock Star
\n8. For This One Time In Life
\n9. Closer
\n10. Rich Men\u2019s World
\n11. Down To The Bottle
\n12. Warrior<\/p>\n

Label: RMB, Pride & Joy Music<\/p>\n

Website: www.michaelbormannpage.de\/<\/a> – https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/michaelbormannrox<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 8\/10 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska – Senior Columnist — With Michael Bormann\u2019s new solo material being finally finished, recorded and released, one could have treated his last year\u2019s \u201cbest of ballads\u201d compilation Love Is Magic as a […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":49833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12394],"tags":[2317,11451,1103,2847,5350,11453,11452],"class_list":{"0":"post-49830","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2015","8":"tag-cd-review","9":"tag-closer","10":"tag-hard-rock","11":"tag-melodic-hard-rock","12":"tag-michael-bormann","13":"tag-pride-joy-music","14":"tag-rmb"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49830","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=49830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}