Although its members have been involved in higher-profile projects – guitarists Ralph Santolla played in Iced Earth and Shane French has gigged with Circle II Circle, while singers Todd Plant fronts prog-rock upstarts Cryptic Vision and Jorn Lande is … well, Jorn Lande – Florida's Millenium has quietly released four solid melodic hard-rock/heavy-metal albums with out of the ordinary songs and hooks that deserve to be heard by a wider audience. That must have been the intention of the honchos at Frontiers Records, which released this two-disc, 28-track compilation. The Best Of … And More provides listeners with substantial offerings from each of Millenium's first three albums – 1998's self-titled debut, 1999's Angelfire and 2000's Hourglass – as well as a slew of previously unreleased recordings.
Disc one opens with six cuts from Hourglass, featuring Lande on vocals, and closes with eight songs from Angelfire with Plant at the mic -- making for a solid, no-filler-all-killer listening experience that's part classic rock, part heavy metal, part AOR and all quite snazzy and catchy. This band would have been unbeatable 15 years ago.
While not quite as strong as the first disc, CD two kicks off with the four best tracks from the debut, followed by four songs from an aborted covers project featuring Lande and journeyman keyboard player Don Airey that would have included songs by The Sweet and Jefferson Airplane, a pair of unreleased song from the Hourglass sessions and four demos from Millenium's latest album, the heavier and less mainstream Jericho (released on another label, incidentally, with Plant back at the vocal helm).
Unfortunately, the same production problems that plagued Millenium's first three albums have not been rectified here during the remastering process. The drums on songs from Hourglass and Angelfire, especially, still sound as if Oliver Hansen is hitting pieces of two-by-four. Other than that, though, it's tough to complain about this collection. Even the demos kick ass.
By the way, the band spells its name incorrectly intentionally to set itself apart from the many uses of the word "millennium" at the time of its formation. That's just the way these guys are – they do things a little differently. You can hear it all over these discs.
Track Listing
Disc One:
1) Power to Love
2) Hourglass
3) Superstar
4) I Still Believe
5) Masquerade
6) Chasing Time
7) Shaman
8) Beyond the Pain
9) End of Time
10) Angelfire
11) Heaven Sent
12) Run
13) Saving Grace
14) The Color of the Night
Total Time: 69:31
Disc Two:
1) Together As One
2) Believe in Love
3) Almost Made It To Heaven
4) Invincible
5) On and On (The Michael Schenker Group)
6) I Surrender (Rainbow)
7) Jane (Jefferson Starship cover)
8) Love Is Like Oxygen (The Sweet cover)
9) Rain (Unreleased)
10) Anybody (Unreleased)
11) Gone Are the Chances (Demo)
12) I Lost It (Demo)
13) Heresy (Demo)
14) Sea of Madness (Demo)
Total Time: 64:58
Combined Total Time: 134:29
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