Raine - Peace


Year of Release: 2000
Label: MTM Records
Catalog Number: MTM 0681-15
Format: CD
Total Time: 53:25:00

Formerly known as Rainmaker, this is the debut album of Raine. In 1998, Rainmaker lost their vocalist, and later on David Lindland and Rennie Xosa (ex-Montana Screams, who released one album a couple of years ago) teamed up with the remaining members of Rainmaker. In March 1999 the band signed to MTM and King Records in Japan and decided that a new name also was in order ? Raine. This debut features a number of guest musicians including violinist Mark Wood (Celine Dion) and Casey Smith (Danger Danger). The album also includes the unreleased Steve Perry tune "Lost Angels".

Raine is not a typical AOR or melodic rock outfit as they balance between smooth AOR, heavy AOR and modern melodic rock, spiced up by throwing in various musical elements and instruments. You will find songs that are heavily acoustic guitar based, some heavily keyboard based, some have a strong piano presence, some are more catchy guitar-based and one song has violins and harmonicas. Although this band clearly have their own sound going here, I can draw comparisons to Journey, Styx and House of Shakira. Vocalist David Lindland beautiful soaring vocals has a wide range and comes close to both Tony Harnell (TNT) and Andreas Eklund. On top of that the instrumentation is very good. There are many highlights on this album, but note that it really takes several spins before you get into this album, as this is not as easily digested as your everyday AOR band. The variation from song to song contributes to keep the listener interested all the way. A couple of songs strike me as mediocre, but overall this is strong album.

Fans of abovementioned bands or clever songwriting should check this out immediately. If you think the AOR scene has become uninspired and without development, why not give Raine a chance?

[This review originally appeared November 2002 at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]


Tracklisting:
Rainmaker / I Am / Everytime / Without You / 2 Am (Hang Out There) / Miracles / Lost Angels / What I I'd Rather Be / Inside Out / I Believe / Never Alone

Musicians:
David Lindland - lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Nick Horne - guitars/backing vocals
Rennie Xosa - bass, backing vocals
Ben Powell - drums, percussion, backing vocals

Guests:

Mark Wood - violin
Casey Smith - keyboards

Discography:
Peace (2000)

Genre: Melodic Rock-AOR

Origin UK

Added: February 19th 2005
Reviewer: Bjørnar Bevolden
Score:
Artist website: www.raine.info
Hits: 2741
Language: english

  

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