Acacia Avenue; Acacia Avenue

Acacia Avenue is a project put together by Section A and Fatal Force guitarist Torben Enevoldsen, who has enlisted an array of vocal talent to both sing on and help him write the lyrics for what is an excellent collection of melodic rock and AOR songs. Enevoldsen sings two of the tracks himself ("Jamie's In Love" and "Let Go") and he does a creditable job on both, however when you have Tony Mills, Geir Ronning Torben Lysholm and Lars Safsund at your disposal, it would a strange decision indeed not to utilise them. Mills (Shy,TNT) opens the album with one of the more uptempo, rockier numbers and as with his other effort "Wait No More", it's an excellent track that is perfect for his high energy, confident and pitch perfect voice. In fact "Wait No More" is ironically the song the Tony has put his talents to that sounds most like classic TNT since he joined that band! It's easy to see why Mr Mills has been in such high demand as of late and these two tracks are up there with some of the best performances he's given in recent times.

That's not to suggest that the other vocalists on show are left in the shadows, as Geir Ronning (Radioactive, Prisoner) uses his blues soaked Glenn Hughes like voice to great effect on three of the songs, the best being the feel good piano led album closer "Digging". Once more Enevoldsen plays some fiery lead breaks over the keys and his solo is a blistering fret-fest, however still in keeping with the overall more laid back feel of the song. Safsund contributes to only one track, "An Illusion", which has a strong Giant vibe running through it and once more highlights the fantastic song writing and production that runs throughout the whole disc. The more Journey like "Just Wanna Be With You" is handled by Torben Lysholm, it's a fine track, however his other contribution "Can't Make You Stay" with it's, atmospheric keyboards and beautiful harmony vocals in the chorus is the best of all the songs on included.

Even with all the talent behind the mic there's also room for an instrumental and while it doesn't quite live up to the other tracks, "Mad Antenna" is a great excuse for Enevoldsen to cut loose and come over like Steve Vai jamming with is old tutor Joe Satriani. With Thomas Heintzelmann (Section A, Decoy) behind the kit and Carsten Neumann (Savage Affair) picking up bass duties on some of the songs, the playing across the disc is top notch and with song writing, production and of course singing to match, Acacia Avenue is one "project" album that lives up to it's combined talent and is well worth revisiting on a regular basis.

Track Listing
01.Don't Call Me Tonight
02. Hold On
03. An Illusion

04. Jamie's In Love
05. Can't Make You Stay
06. Mad Antenna
07. Wait No More

08. No Looking Back
09. Just Wanna Be With You
10. Let Go
11. Digging.

Added: October 17th 2009
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Torben Enevoldsen online
Hits: 1622
Language: english

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