The Pantheon Band were formed in 2017 with their debut album “Five Lines” which was released in 2020 on Volcano Records. The Pantheon Band are veterans of the Rome hard rock scene. Italian and international stage who pay tribute to their influences which include Deep Purple, Uriah Heap, Foreigner. The Black Crowes and Bon Jovi. With progressive elements, some heavy arrangements, organ/synth & guitar driven melodies are what they represent. ”Upswing” the second album is the result full of hard rock energy from five skilled musicians.

“Get Away From You” is mid tempo rock track which starts the album ,with a classic rock vibe, which has some catchy hooks & nice Hammond melody ,but its missing that catchy chorus. ”Sweet Lady Luck” has a prog feel intro which seems to go on too long for me, once the track started its not a bad rock track some nice deep bass with some great guitar runs, but I feel its spoilt with the Hammond organ ,If that wasn't there it would sound much better than it does. ”No Man's Land” a ballad with some acoustic touches has a Europe feel to it, a better track than previous but the vocals just lack that extra power &  emotion, ”Man On The Run” has great melody & hooks ,classic rock influenced with great melody, catchy chorus with the organ giving the track colour. ”Fly High” is the first of two instrumentals on this record over 8 minutes long, pan pipes intro, piano/synth driven sounds nice but for me not enough guitar injection or drama to make it an epic piece of music which is much the same with instrumental number 2 “Light After Dark” which is very organ prominent and monotonous. ”On The Razors Edge” starts off very promising nice guitars and melody but then lacks energy, fire and passion with yet again the organ spoiling the track. ”My Old Whiskey Bottle” has that blues rock feel, it has some nice guitar touches, deep bass giving it depth, vocals are better for me the best track on the album.

Pantheon Band "Upswing” was a bit of a frustrating listen, some great guitar moment's backed with some great rhythm and melody's. However, some of Bruno Baudo's vocals were lacking power and emotion in some parts so then when it came to the choruses they just lacked that killer catchy hook to get the track stuck in your head. Marco Quagliozzi is great at playing the Hammond but I felt that the tracks were too saturated by its presence and would have sounded better without it or less of it. Such a shame because this album had some great glimmers of potential.