EP review : RONNIE ATKINS – Symphomaniac

Frontiers Records [release date 18.11.22]

There is yet to be an “orchestral” album of rock songs that outdoes Wang Chung’s Orchesography, but this EP from Ronnie Atkins gets close.
In fairness, this is Symphonic Rock in all its bombastic splendour. The Wang Chung stuff stuck closer to classic orchestral arrangements.

It helps that the 4 songs chosen (taken from Atkins’ latest studio album released earlier this year) are made of solid, robust material, otherwise the orchestra and the choirs may just have overwhelmed the music.

Opener, ‘Rising Tide’, a pocket sized polemic, sets the scene. It has an electric and electrifying emotional charge, amplified by the massed voices of the Danish National Concert Choir.

‘Unsung Heroes’, a salute to the real heroes of the Covid years, and the powerful title track, ‘Make It Count’, massive pieces of composition and production are in the same mould. This is tough, heroic music, deserving of a big canvas, propelled by a tight mix of symphonic orchestration and choral punch.

They are songs with a message of course, and best of all might be the ballad, ‘Let Love Lead The Way’. Atkins sings with a religious intensity, backed up by spine tingling orchestration as the lyrics provide us with the answer we expected all along. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

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