I will not tell you again the same past story about how HARDLINE was formed out of the ashes of BRUNETTE 20 years ago, with strong input by both JOURNEY / SOUL CIRKUS guys Neal Schon & Deen Castronovo with also huge song writing contribution by the mighty Mike Slamer (CITY BOY / STREETS / STEELHOUSE LANE / TOWER CITY / SEVENTH KEY / GRAND ILLUSION etc...).

I will not tell you again how the 1992's MCA "Double Eclipse" is still regarded by some as a timeless classic and how disappointed were the AOR Mafia guys, by all the album released since then...You know the yada yada trick "nothing is good since the 1985 summer" rubbish thing. "Leaving The End Open" in 2009 was very good despite the bad comments from the ultraconservative AOR Community, it was a splendid contemporary way to make melodic Hard Rock without the will to rewrite the past or flattering the nostalgia before everything else.

Anyhow, once in awhile, Johnny Gioeli escapes from his day job & the Axel Rudi Pell's straitjacket and trying to resurrect again HARDLINE. With some massive changes in the line-up, this time the personnel is exclusively European with some highly regarded figures for the very moment, as the great shredder Thorsten Koehne (EDEN'S CURSE / ex-DEMON DRIVE / ex-CODE OF PERFECTION also featured with SABU / WOLFPAKK / SUNSTORM) and also EDEN'S CURSE's new colleague: Keyboardist / Singer / Producer Alessandro Del Vecchio (EDGE OF FOREVER / LIONSVILLE / SHINING LINE / PARADISE INC. / SOUL SELLER etc...)

First the production is Ok, but far from outstanding. The songs are quite regular and very traditional. The guitar solos are short but interesting and always useful & constructive. The lead vocals are truly all-fired up amazing. Hey, what did you expect? Gioeli is a hell of a singer, and the yellow pages from the Estonian phone book could have been compared with Tolstoy's "War And Peace" if he had sung it.

So you know what to hypothetically wait for. Un-risky Heavy / AOR with unsurprised melodies and awaited & well supposed hook but enjoyable and well crafted. Frontiers Records and HARDLINE are playing safely here, in order to pleased "the numerous retrograde purists" out there. But wait a second it seems that they are still not happy despite everything. Go figure.