The story of Marchello, the band, is indeed a rather complex tale, all starting in the early to mid-80’s from the ashes of Long Island legends “The Good Rats” (led by one Peppi Marchello) a band who while amassing an enormous regional following, had not broken to any substantial mainstream level nationally or internationally beyond the level of a solid cult status… mind boggling to think why when one revisits their absolutely first rate catalogue. From this, the somewhat unexpected union of Peppi Marchello and his son Gene Marchello created two of the most underrated, and to those in the know, most loved cult classics in melodic, lead guitar orientated rock history… Marchello’s “Destiny” and it’s until now never fully and officially released follow up album “Power Of Money”.Marchello Senior (Peppi) stayed in the background for the band when they signed for CBS Records taking on the production and song writing duties.

Marchello “Destiny” first released in 1989 via CBS Records is very much an in demand collectors item which was initially limited to 500 copies which all sold out with pre orders, A second press has been issued due to demand at the time of writing this review, ”Brown Eyes” starts this album which immediately draws me in with its melodic melody, guitar riffs and superb vocals from Gene Marchello,”Tights Pants” American Rock 80's style very reminiscent of that Van Halen era those vocals, harmonies and guitar runs are very well delivered. ”Destiny” is melodic clocking in at over 6 minutes reminds me of early White Lion sound with those Vito Bratta style of runs on the guitar with some great vocals. ”First Love” has some very catchy synth melodies which build into a great bridge with a catchy chorus.

What's becoming apparent is not only the melodic rock sound of this album but also the hair metal sound too, “What If” ,”Living For Number One” and “Heavy Weight Champ Of Love” are perfect examples of this well executed musically and vocally much better than some other bands of that era.”Love Begins Again” is the power ballad of the album which is delivered with emotional vocals, great acoustic guitar riffs building into a powerful chorus. ”She's Magic” and “Winners Never Lose” are two great examples of 80's AOR/melodic rock like the rest of the album catchy, well written and produced. ”Rock N' Roll Rumble” is an instrumental track which show the extraordinary talents and skills Gene Marchello has on guitar one word SENSATIONAL! The reissue feature five bonus tracks which are taken from “The Happy Camper Summer Sampler Cd/LP” all of which are various versions of the track “Destiny” the last track is “Ashes To Ashes” but is the same track as the previous four I'm only presuming at one time it had a different title.

This is an excellent re-issue 35 years after its first release. No doubt “Destiny” is a melodic rock cult classic ,no doubt it will sell very well too. I loved every track on this album there's definitely no fillers here. Gene Marchello has a great voice, is a superb guitarist backed by a great band, The production and song writing is superb from his father Pepi Marchello. It's a crying shame that Marchello did not hit the big time because this is a classic album which is far better than some other albums released in 1989 by other bands in this genre. Definitely a re-issue that needs to be heard, appreciated and checked out by fans of this music.