In fronting brand new Italian Melodic Rockers POISON ROSE, vocalist Marco Sivo is taking on his first project as a lead vocalist since his stint in Progressive Metallers TIME MACHINE way back in 2004. Since then, his talents have been directed into song writing, penning numbers for various Frontiers artists including Geoff Tate's SWEET OBLIVION among others. POISON ROSE are less of a fully formed band than a project of Frontiers' management, conceived by their producer and contributing musician Alessandro Del Vecchio, with the idea of providing their in-house writer and vocalist Sivo his own vehicle for his song writing and vocal talents. As such he is performing with musicians, he has worked closely with across other Frontiers projects, so while the band may not be established, they have all worked together previously.

If you had to sum this album up in a single word, it would probably not be "diverse," as what we have here is a straightforward Melodic Hard Rock album which strays into Melodic Metal territory on occasion. With an even distribution of balladry, mid-tempo stompers and driving rockers, there is enough variety to keep one from snoozing off, but they are all very much aimed right down the middle of the road. "Inner Wolf" opens with a short introduction of squealing guitar harmonics and keyboards, while a guitar lead delivers a simple melody. Marco Sivo's vocals are strong and mostly clean with just a touch of gravel. The guitars are given several notable moments of quality soloing as you would expect from this sort of outfit, however the song is really nothing special with a forgettable melody and predictable structure. "Your Eyes Again" doesn't give us anything more memorable in the song writing department, but what it does boast is a downright balls-to-the-wall guitar solo littered with riff-tastic moments that will be a hyperactive workout for the air guitarists among us.

I'll refrain from a further detailed breakdown of each song, as despite there being a good selection of moods and tempos across the LP, there isn't a great deal of contrast in the song writing between each track. If you enjoy meaty riffs, virtuoso guitar solos and soaring vocals with highly layered and melodic backing vox, you are probably going to find this LP up your alley. If eclectic writing and heterogeneous musical influences are more your thing, you may want to give it a miss. The production is superb, you would expect no less from a collection of Frontiers' top studio men, but as a whole package it lacks enough inspiration to launch it into the musical stratosphere. Solid but unspectacular.