First the bad news this is not a sequel to the early eighties Balance that featured Peppy Castro, Bob Kulick and Doug Katsaros, who released a good pop-rock debut in 1981 and stunning AOR follow up a year or so later.

Now for the good news, what we have here ladies and gentlemen is a stunning album of musical excellence coupled with good songs! A rare beast indeed! This Balance have a multitude of influences and have blended these together in such a way that they have come up with original sounding album! The band themselves use the following description for what they have created with Balance II- "If I had to describe it in general, it would be a cross between the Eagles and Trevor Rabin-era Yes, with less gloss and a lot more notes sometimes!" Personally I’ve seen Queen and many other bands mentioned in reviews, but, after a lot of thought, my description would be Toto jamming with Dixie Dregs/Steve Morse band in a jazzy/Westcoast AOR style, oh with a bit country for good measure!

'How Many' opens the album in the style that they mean to go on with, Guitarist Brian Moritz being very influenced by the two Steve’s (Lukather and Morse). The keyboards are high up in the mix and La Rue's bass playing is stunning. the track itself certainly measures up to my description of above having that feel of  Toto doing a little jazz on the side. Next up is 'You Asked' which is a complete change in pace from the opening number, with it’s almost country flavour and for some reason reminds me of “Can We Be Friends?” by Eric Clapton form one of the Lethal Weapon movies.

'Reptilian Crawl' continues the high standards set by the first two songs, opening with more excellent bass playing form La Rue, a musician I’ve been a fan of ever since he was writing for guitar for the practicing musician and I purloined a Dixie Dregs album on which he played . The song is a great up-tempo track that once again is reminiscent  of Toto and includes more brilliant guitar interplay. 'When Love Comes' kicks off like a Friday night down your local Indian restaurant. This point is  rammed home even more by the opening of a can a beer, just before the voice box kicks in and an almost Santan-ish guitar riff comes out, that is until the vocals come in and the track metamorphosizes into a cool ballad type track.

With Tommy Denander guesting on guitar, 'The Way We Do'  is more in a   jazz vein  but still has a definite AOR undercurrent in the mix and then with 'When I Fall Down' Balance get all laid back and almost drift into lounge music territory, that is until the chorus kicks in and yet more stunning guitar work is unleashed. The nest two tracks, 'Carry Me Home' & 'Burn' showcase the talents of drummer Rod Morgenstein. The former opens with an almost militarily precise drumbeat before adding in some strange sounding keyboard flavours, but it is when the guitar riff kicks in that the song springs to life and proves to be another winner in the vein of Mecca. The latter track sees Morgenstein let loose on his kick drum and features an extended keyboard solo and another fine hook to draw the listeners attention.

The album closes with two more well crafted numbers. The first, 'Miracles'  is a great little track that reminds me of something that yet again I cannot put my finger on what - I must be getting old. Whilst finally rounding out the whole album is Fleetwood Mac -esque 'Let Us Prey' with its subtle blues undertones.

Balance II, as an album, is very different to most of what is served up these days and I love it for that reason alone. However add to this the strength of the song writing, the production and the all round excellent musicianship on display, from all concerned, not just the two “name” musicians, and what you get is an album that is a winner on every level. Repeated plays offer the listener something to discern on every run through and believe me I’ve heard about 20 times in the last week or so! This is not AOR, nor melodic rock  but rather an album of good, clever, interesting songs with some magical musical interludes included.

Don't believe me, then head over to www.balanceweb.com  or www.melodicrock.com  and have a listen for yourself. Now perfect 10/10 albums, to this reviewers mind, come along once in a blue moon and it is how they stand the test of time that ultimately decrees that they deserve that accolade, however Balance II almost hit that perfect score now, it is that good. And hey I didn't even mention the artistic nudes in the artwork
 

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Track List

How Many
You Asked
Reptilian Crawl
When Love Comes
The Way We Do
When I Fall Down
Carry Me Home
Burn
Miracles
Let Us Pray

Line Up

Vince Claps - Vocals
Brian Moritz - Guitar
Rod Morgenstein - Drums
Dave LaRue - Bass
Joel Kaplan - Keyboards