Frontiers Music [Released Date : 28.02.25]

Third solo album on Frontiers from the much travelled rock singer Robin McAuley. His travels have all been well documented online.

The worth repeating bits:

He bookended his three album stint with Schenker in the eighties/nineties with two releases by Frank Farian’s project, The Far Corporation.

Then he stopped off at Survivor for a while, learned a bit from Peterik and Sullivan, and took to the road again, finally circling back to Schenker Fest, Black Swan (with Jeff Pilson and Reb Beach) and ultimately a solo contract with Frontiers.

His first two albums on the label, Standing On The Edge (2021) and Alive (2023), received five-star reviews from GRTR! reviewer, Dave Wilson.

Both albums carried a torch for melodic hard rock, with producer/writers Alessandro DelVecchio and Tommy Denander inevitably softening the delivery in places.

Soulbound, produced by Frontiers’ severely talented Aldo Lonobile (best known as producer/writer/guitarist with Secret Sphere and Sunstorm), has jettisoned this approach, going for something harder, heavier, grittier.

Openers ‘Til I Die’ and the title track, ‘Soulbound’ convey an uneasy sense of passion, and ‘The Best Of Me’ – a grubby, gilded hybrid of hard rock and heavy metal – maintains the mood and the momentum.

This is weighty stuff, with lots of sharp corners and razoring riffs. Yet, it’s light on its feet. It moves quickly. Guitarist Andresa Seveso is on fire – a skilled craftsman cranking up the music’s power metal engine.

His exercises in high calibre axework are most notable on ‘Let It Go’ and ‘Paradise’, where he distills the notes into armour piercing solos, a bit like the work of late lamented John Sykes.

That said, there are enough explosive, frenzied rock songs to satisfy he most demanding hard rock fan, even the darkly balladic ‘Crazy’ has the heft you normally associate with Power Metal’s heavier end.

And anyone who thought McAuley is easing off now is in for a big surprise. The intensity of his vocals on the more melodically inclined ‘Wonder Of The World’ and ‘One Good Reason’ are testament to that.

His even handed approach places emphasis on the sentiments as much as the power, an uncommon commodity in today’s rock and metal world. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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Power Plays w/c 10 March 2025

THE SOUL REVIVAL Outlaw (indie)
WHEN RIVERS MEET Addicted To Love (indie)
ISABELLA STORM Satan’s Valentine (indie)
KEYSTONE Slow Down Honey (indie)
THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE Sleep Tonight (Metropolis Records)
SAWMOON Madness (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 10 March 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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