Oh the 80s is strong with this band! That was my first thought when putting on the opening track "Short Steps"...well, my first thought was 'how very 80s' but starting off this review with a Star Wars reference seemed cooler. Anyway, what is this opening track from I hear you ask? Well, it's from the Italian Hard Rock band MAINSTREET's new album, "Second Chance". 5 years after their first album "Back to the 80's", MAINSTREET release this new album with a new line up, new production and new contributions, but also old friends and the same old desire for music. "Second Chance" is a meeting point between Melodic Hard Rock and sophisticated orchestral textures where fresh but complex arrangements enhance catchy tracks to obtain an original mix of refined AOR taste.

I've got to admit, as I write these very words, I'm only 3 tracks in and boy, it sounds amazing. The song writing is wonderful and the production does sound as brand new as they claim it to be. As I sit here, listening to track 3, "Empty Eyes" I can't help but think it sounds like an AVANTASIA song, something you'd hear off their most recent album, "The Mystery of Time". Even the singing is quite similar to Tobias Sammet which makes me love it even more.

Track 4 is also very AVANTASIA-ish, with the big orchestral sound and distorted guitar tones, with the heavy hitting drums played by Ivan Belloni. So, they weren't lying when they mentioned "orchestral textures".

Tracks 2 to 6 and track 10 are the more orchestral and symphonic sounding songs, whereas tracks 1, 7 and 9 are more Melodic Hard Rock than anything, and track 8 is probably the most Pop-ish sounding song on the album. That's how I would categorize each song, but it's not like tracks 2 to 6 all sound the same, but every track on the album has something different in its sound and that's one thing I love about this album; it's not samey! Whether you're a fan of Symphonic Rock or Hard Rock, you will enjoy this album.<