Frontiers Records [Release date 03.07.15]
Who is ‘The V’ then? Why it’s non-other than Benedictum screamer Veronica Freeman and ‘Now Or Never’ is her debut solo album where she ventures away from her traditional style of lead vocals.
Helping Veronica out musically we have a varied cast of hard rock icons such as Michael Sweet (Stryper), Jeff Pilson (Dokken), Jerry Dixon (Warrant) and Mike Lepond (Symphony X), her Benedictum band mates plus other lesser knowns…
‘Now Or Never’ shows that The V can wrap her tonsils around a wide variety of hard rock tunes but my main problem lies with the lack of depth on the song writing front.
Opener Again starts things off with some impressive vocals and heavy riffs…plus dodgy lyrics (“you threw me from the cliff…”). Title track Now Or Never is a fairly harmless old school rocker but apart from the Leather Leone co-vocal on the catchy Kiss My Lips there is a definite lull in the middle of this…none of the songs being memorable in the slightest. Rollercoaster, Line In The Sand, Spellbound, Starshine, Below Zero all just pass by in a haze.
Things improve at the end with Ready To Run and King For a Day featuring the highly underrated Tony Martin…but even this seems to end rather abruptly before it really got going…
Disappointing as this could have been so much better… **½
Review by Phil Berisford
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Power Plays w/c 21 April 2025
THE DEVIL WEARS NADA Late Night Talking (Eonian Records)
DROWNING POOL Madness (SBG Records)
PARKER BARROW Make It (indie)
REDIKIN Nailed It (Wormholedeath)
PENNY FOUNTAIN Euphoria (indie)
CRY FOR MERCY Saving Grace (indie)
VIGILANTES Life In The Fast Brain (indie)
Featured Albums w/c 21 April 2025
09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Singer Songwriter)
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