You know I was all set to slag this album off big style. Having listened to it a dozen or so times the whole record did noting for me. However writing this review at 11.30 at night after listening to pounding hard rock for most of the day and with a splitting headache to boot brought a whole new perspective to the record.

Given Kiske's comments in recent interviews with regard to his metal past it should come as no surprise that this album is as far away from his roots as it is possible to get. This is certainly no Helloween and neither for that matter is it any Place Vendome, his most recent outing. 'Kiske' in fact is about as laid back as an album can get without being under a douvet, acoustic in nature for the most part and certainly not an album that you would want to put on to get hyped up for a night out. Actually it's more of an album to put on after a good night out, surrounded with candles, a decent bottle of red wine and plenty of good company to converse with. The closest comparison I can come up with in terms of musical style is the late, great George Harrison. At times the orchestration on the album is beautiful, take 'The King of It All' as an example. Simple in the extreme but with some lovely string washes and of course Kiske's still pure, melodic voice to top it off.

There how however two real problems with the record, only one of which strictly speaking is down to Michael Kiske. All of the songs are very much the same tempo, same style and there is nothing to break up the flow so the individual tracks seem to get lost amidst the whole and you never quite pick out any individual numbers. Hence the comment earlier about having good company to converse with, good background music.

The second problem is more to do with the business aspect of actually selling the damn thing. Kiske's fanbase is, in general, a metal crowd and it is debatable whether this album is one that those fans will take to easily. It doesn't help that Frontiers, as a label, very much markets melodic hard rock which this is not. What 'Kiske' needs is to get this record in front of people who like Coldplay, Travis and such like and then he may find a whole new audience for himself.

A worthy album but one that I feel, unfortunately, will do nothing to further Michael Kiske's career.

Let us know your views on 'Kiske'

Track List

Fed By Stones
All Solutions
Knew I Would
Kings Fall
Hearts Are Free
The King of It All
Sing My Song
Silently Craving
Truly
Painted
Sad As The World

Line Up

Michael Kiske - Vocals/Guitar/Keys
Sandro Giampietro - Guitars
Fontaine Burnett - Bass
Karsten Nagel - Drums