Over The Horizon is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed debut, Precious Time, from German melodic hard rockers Human Zoo. 

Thomas Seeburger has a harsh, raspy vocal delivery which gives them a harder edge than some of their contemporaries, such as Gotthard or Bonfire and this may slightly alienate some listeners. 

The always excellent Dennis Ward of Pink Cream 69 produced the album and as soon as you see his name mentioned in such a capacity, it is a reassuring mark of quality that the album will sound superb and this one is no different. 

The songs themselves are fairly good for the most part and the addition of a saxophonist is a bit of a twist and adds a different dimension to their overall sound when he is used. The guitar work is first rate throughout but, whilst there’s nothing really wrong with the band, there is at the same time perhaps nothing too special about them either, meaning for me they are not in the same league as the aforementioned Gotthard or Bonfire (and plenty of others besides). 

There are a couple of cliché ridden tracks in the form of “Rock Your Town” and “Hit The Rock” which I don’t think do the band any favours, but there are also some far more decent quality moments such as “”Lovin’ You”, “Endless Road” and the title track itself to help balance the overall album. 

Human Zoo were due to put in a live performance at the Thunderground Festival which has, of course, sadly been cancelled, which is a shame as I would like to have judged the band in the live arena to compare their performance to that on this album. 

Overall, I am a little disappointed with this album, as melodic rock is my absolute favourite rock genre and there are so many great German exponents of the art that rank amongst my very favourite artists. I think Seeburger’s style is a slightly polarising factor and I didn’t particularly warm to his vocals which, for me, are the most important element in determining how highly I rate a band.  

Good, but not great and could have been so much better, I feel.

Let us know your views on Over The Horizon

Track Listing

Cosmopolitan Scene Part II
Cryin`
Over The horizon
Communicate
Want It
Be The One
Rock Your Town
Interlude Creatures Theme I
Creatures Of The night
Hit The Rock
Lovin´ You
Endless Road

Line Up

Thomas Seeburger – Vocals
Tommy Strobel – Drums
Ingolf Engler – Guitars
Zarko Mestrovic – Keyboards
Markus Ratheiser – Bass
Boris Matakovic - Saxophone