MICHAEL KISKE & AMANDA SOMERVILLE - Album review

"Kiske - Somerville" is an unusual beast: an album filled to the brim with duets. It's common to tie a singer with a guitarist on a twosome LP, but a pair of singers performing every track - especially in the hard rock genre - is a real surprise.

The two here - German vocalist Michael Kiske and American singer Amanda Somerville - were put together by Frontiers Records boss Serafino Perugino. Michael is best known as the former singer with Helloween, and also the front man of the excellent Place Vendome project. Amanda is a singer/songwriter and vocal coach who has strong ties with Epica, Kamelot and Avantasia. She released a solo album "Windows" in 2009.

The main line-up on the album is completed by Primal Fear members Mat Sinner on bass, and Magnus Karlsson on guitars/keyboards. Sander Gommans adds additional guitar. Martin Schmidt and Ramy Ali handle drums, and Jimmy Kresic provides some keyboard work. Mat Sinner also supervised the production & mix.

The sound is theatrical, mixing hard rock and symphonic metal in a subtly over-the-top style...and the result is more often than not sonically mind blowing. Unfortunately, the two vocalists were clearly recorded separately as there is little chemistry and timing evident. It's a shame as both vocalists have stunning voices, and the poor production of this aspect utterly spoils what could otherwise have been a brilliant album.

'Nothing Left To Say' is bog-standard power metal and not a particularly amazing start to the album. 'Silence' is a strong-sounding ballad, but question marks hover around how the voices work with each other. 'If I Had A Wish' is again not great. It would have been much better with one or the other singing - not both. 'Arise', which starts with some fantastic guitar work, is much better. The chorus is nicely leftfield and gives the song tons of character. 'End Of The Road' is a slower one with a big symphonic-stage-show chorus. It isn't by any means perfect, but it is enjoyable. 'Don't Walk Away' is pleasantly feel good, but lacks on the technical front.

'A Thousand Suns' is a big dramatic number that's almost good because it isn't produced that well. 'Rain' is fairly forgettable. The harmonies really come together in 'One Night Burning'; comfortably the best song on the album. The theatrical 'Devil In Her Heart' is interesting and good in a weird way. 'Second Chance' is another poor entry that does nothing for me. 'Set A Fire' has some phenomenal guitar sounds, but again the vocals don't tie up.

This could have been such a good album if one or the other singer had sung exclusively. As it is, with both of them and their poorly combined vocals the result is utterly frustrating. Shame.

Track List:

01. Nothing Left To Say
02. Silence
03. If I Had A Wish
04. Arise
05. End Of The Road
06. Don't Walk Away
07. A Thousand Suns
08. Rain
09. One Night Burning
10. Devil In Her Heart
11. Second Chance
12. Set A Fire (Bonus track)

dedicated to all metal music fans around the world

download video clip MICHAEL KISKE & AMANDA SOMERVILLE - If I Had A Wish:
http://www.ziddu.com/download/13432468/alKiskeAmandaSomerville-IfIHadAWishOfficialVideo.mp4.html