Album review: AOR – Bewitched In L.A.
Bewitched In L.A. Perris Records [Release date 08.09.23]
The advent of AI in music is the subject of much discussion. Listening to this latest offering from melodic rock plagiarist Frederic Slama you could be forgiven for thinking that everything – including the cover art – has been generated by ChatGPT.
My previous encounter with Slama’s music was when he chaperoned the cheeky girls aka Chasing Violets whose vocals were decidedly off kilter.
He has now enlisted respected melodic rock vocalist Paul Sabu but really this is just awful. Sabu fails to inject any sort of life or character into what appears to be generic stylings that we’ve heard before. In short, he sounds strained throughout. I mean, in terms of the production line mentality, even Frontiers don’t stoop this low.
The only saving grace appears to be the presence of Tommy Denander but what on earth is he doing being associated with such a project?
Of course you could approach this album merely from the standpoint that it’s a tribute to the big hair days of melodic rock and therefore cut some slack and enjoy it for the memories and nostalgia.
Things haven’t moved on since that Chasing Violets album when I commented “somewhat trite play-it-by-numbers session tracks.” Approach with caution unless you still aspire to a mullet. **1/2
Review by David Randall
Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK
Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.
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Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024
ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)
Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024
09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)
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