Album review – KHYMERA – Hold Your Ground

Frontiers [Release date 10.02.23]

Texas native, bassman and vocalist, Dennis (Pink Cream 69/Unisonic/Place Vendome/Sunstorm) Ward, transformed into a full blown front man with Khymera earlier this millennium.

The band membership is inclined to fluidity, but Ward has assembled a fine studio team around him here, with Eric Ragno on keys, Michael Klein on guitars, and drummer, Michael Kolar holding those rhythms down.

As a vocalist, he has considerable range, but his voice is not so distinctive.

And too often he falls victim of AOR formula. It’s a blueprint that worked well for so many bands in the 80s, and indeed, with some tweaks and innovative touches, it can and does work well today for some artists, albeit within the limitations of a still shrinking market for the genre.

That said, as an experienced musician who’se worked with the best, you’ve got to say that Ward knows how to mount a big production number, how to give a song a 3 dimensional sound, and how to give that song a dazzling shine.

So much so that too many songs are polished up to within an inch of their lives. Resulting in an inescapable blandness that the music finds impossible to break through.

And it starts off so well, with opener, ‘Don’t Wait For Love’s thrilling and genuinely spine tingling vocal arrangements, and the fast building, quickly climaxing melodic rock of ‘Firestarter’.

Ward steps away from his standard vocal style on ‘Hear Me Calling’, using rarely deployed high pitched, soulful vocal skills that we could have done with more of. This approach gives the songs the emotional impetus that’s missing elsewhere.

A couple of “sounds like” tracks hold the album together as we move into the second half. The softer rocking AOR sound of Survivor circa When Seconds Counts on ‘Sail On Forever’ and the DNA at the core of Heart’s ‘Alone’ is repurposed for emotional ballad, ‘Our Love Is Killing Me’.

Thereafter, we keep waiting for some truly magnificent AOR song to make its presence felt. But it doesn’t. **1/2

Review by Brian McGowan

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.

Next session: Sunday 1 December

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 3 November 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 29 October 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

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)