Todd Wolf, the guitarist of the metal band HUMAN HARVEST - and, before that, BEDLAM and TIMEZONE - decided to broaden his horizons and formed THE TROPHY in 2006. For this new project he sent a couple of samples to singer Michael Bormann (JADED HEART, BONFIRE, J.R. BLACKMORE and many more) who was eager to participate. So, the trio from Germany, together with Marco Grasshof, has just released its debut album The Gift Of Life from Frontiers.

This album belongs in the melodic Hard Rock releases for 2009 and is a very good piece. Of course here you will find the link that attaches past with present. The voice of Michael Bormann is adding lots of pluses to it, in order to say that this album has a characteristic genre's line. Gift Of Life starts with enough power, an EVANESCENCE aura, great melody and a powerful sound. When The Nightmares Wake Me Up and Get The Cup  let out the GOTTHARD influence. Anyway, most of the songs are moving in the GOTTHARD orbit with some add of EVANESCENCE (The Gift Of Life, Can Get Out Of My Head) and some BON JOVI (The Shades Of Grey) highlights. Most of the songs as well have the same tempo but you can distinguish good melodies, heavy riffs and nice accompanying keyboard tunes.

I underline again that the first thing you will notice is the excellent vocal work by Bormann, and as far as the production is concerned is well attended. I will remind you that this band is minus a drummer, and the percussion arrangements in some parts give the impression that they would need a further boost in sound's quality. To sum up, The Gift Of Life is a good album (with a really nice cover!) and with Michael Bormann's presence, it totally deserves a go. As it has been already mentioned, there is a bunch of bands moving in that genre and as long as they can deliver decent sound and melodies, there is no problem for me. The disciples of the holy melodic Hard Rock temple you may enter and listen to this release.