Out Of This World: Out Of This World

Out of this World is a new band formed by Kee Marcello (Ex-Europe) alongside several experienced and capable musicians; Tommy Heart (Fair Warning), bassist Ken Sandin (Alien), and drummer Darby Todd (Devin Townsend, Gary Moore, The Darkness).

Their band name and their debut self-titled release bears the name of Kee Marcello’s first studio release with Europe (Out of this World) ,the multi-platinum album released back in 1988.

My immediate first impressions of this album is that Kee Marcello’s guitar work is really good -there is no doubt it’s a highlight along with Tommy Heart’s vocals. Both deliver world class performances throughout.

However, as I continue to get more familiar with this release I feel like I’m stuck in a 1980’s time capsule-I get it, these guys have been making this sort of music for decades -this is their style, but it just leaves me a little cold. All of the well-worn tropes of this sort of music are on display; "The Warrior" has a Hot For Teacher swing to it. ‘Aint Gonna Let you go’ is like a teenage heart break sort of lyric which just doesn’t hit the mark.

Perhaps If this album was released in the 80’s when these guys were young it might sit more comfortably with me. An example of what I’m talking about is the track "Hanging On" which has boy-meets-girl style lyrics about ‘not wanting to be being exclusive’ etc -a shirtless David Lee Roth or Steven Tyler might have gotten away with this sort of stuff in their prime, but hits me flat hearing a 50 year old sing this sort of stuff in 2022. But hey, that’s just my opinion.

AOR (Album Orientated Rock) is a term coined to describe the glossy, super melodic, commercially oriented rock music released in the late 70’s and 80s. There is no doubt that Out of This World is pure AOR. If Europe, Van Halen, Journey, Boston etc is your cup of tea then you will certainly find a lot to like on this album. Honestly, I have to be in the mood to get through 10 tracks of saccharine sweet rock music, and when that Mood hits I’ll likely pull out Van Halen 1984 or Boston’s debut over this album. With all that said, the musicianship and song writing chops on this release are very strong, so if you’re into this type of music you’ll find plenty to like about Out of This World.

Track List

1. Twilight
2. Hangin On
3. In A Million Years
4. Lighting Up My Dark
5. Staring At The Sun
6. The Warrior
7. Up To You
8. Ain't Gonna Let You Go
9. Only You Can Teach Me How To Love Again
10. Not Tonight

Added: January 18th 2022
Reviewer: Chris Reid
Score:
Related Link: Band Facebook Page
Hits: 637
Language: english

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