Album Review — Gioeli-Castronovo
Gioeli-Castronovo — Set The World On Fire
Johnny Gioeli and Deen Castronovo are back together 25 years after Hardline’s debut album, Double Eclipse. My guess is most of us bought that record because of Neal Schon, but both Gioeli and Castronovo have gone on to have quality careers. Gioeli has most notably sung with Axel Rudi Pell and has continued releasing albums under the Hardline moniker. Castronovo has played with Ozzy and Journey among others and now plays with The Dead Daisies. Castronovo also handles lead vocals as well as drums in Revolution Saints.
There are a lot of positives about this record. The album starts off strong with the rocker “Set The World on Fire”. Castronovo and Gioeli share lead vocals duties. “Through” is up next and sounds like it could have been taken off one of the new Journey records. Again, the two share vocal duties. “Run For Your Life” is another uptempo rocker with more shared vocals. “Remember Me” is is one of my favorite tracks but yet again, more shared vocals. There’s a similar feel here to the Revolution Saints records and other recent Frontiers releases as Alessandro Del Vecchio handles keyboards and the majority of songwriting duties.
I have a couple of issues with the record. First off, I very much wish there weren’t so many songs with shared vocals. All the best songs feature both guys singing and I think it breaks up the songs too much. “Remember Me” is the perfect example. Johnny sings the majority of the song, but Deen handles a couple of verses too. I love Deen’s voice, but the song would have been better if just Johnny sang and Deen maybe provided additional vocals in the chorus. I would rather hear Johnny and Deen each get their own songs instead of all the back and forth. It takes a special band to pull of two vocalists sharing lead and I think the album would have benefited from less vocal sharing.
For some reason they do a cover of Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now”. I actually don’t mind their version and I wouldn’t have known it was a cover of a country song. In order for the song to work they brought in a female vocalist, Giorgia Colleluori from Eternal Idol. On an album where there are already two main vocalist, I’m not sure the best idea was to add a third.
For me, the songs are hit or miss. There are some songs I’m not crazy about but the good songs are very good. There could be one or two more rockers here but overall I can’t complain too much about the songs.
I’m torn on this latest run of these Frontiers projects. Of course, I love that these artists are able to release new music. And some of the combinations that have been put together in recent years have been great. But the downside is most of these projects are just that…projects. That aren’t really bands. And many times that comes across in the music. The performances are very good and many times excellent, but sometimes they lack that certain something that makes a band a band. They haven’t put in the miles together on the road, the months together in the studio, etc.
But I will take what I can get and be happy. The musical landscape is very different than it was 30 years ago and I am thankful that Frontiers has provided an outlet for many of these artists to continue releasing new music. So kudos to Frontiers for that.
If you liked Hardline or any of the projects these guys have been a part of, you will like this record.
Overall — 85 out of 100
Track Listing
1. Set The World On Fire *
2. Through *
3. Who I Am
4. Fall Like An Angel
5. It’s All About You
6. Need You Now
7. Ride Of Your Life
8. Mother
9. Walk With Me
10. Run For Your Life *
11. Remember Me *
12. Let Me Out *
*Best Songs