Line Of Fire first came to my attention via the melodicrock.com notice board, were vocalist Shawn Pelata is a regular poster and coupled with an interview and several tracks being played on Arfm I was looking forward to hearing this album. The band are obviously influenced by Journey, going so far as to name themselves after a Journey track. Surprisingly though having said that Journey are a major influence on the band these influences appear to be are all pre - Jon Cain era and therefore it may actually be more accurate to say that Line Of Fire are influenced by Neal Schon as evidence of his sound and style can be heard thoughout this album and not just from his work with Journey but also from the likes of Bad English, Hardline and even Soul Sirkus thrown in for good measure.

Faith In Fire opens the album in a fine rocking style and just listen to that solo and then comes the albums standout track in the shape of 'Live & Let Go' which opens in a fairly mid pace vein before the vocals come in and the track slowly builds up to stunning chorus!

Following the balladic 'Fade, is 'Paradise' that features a cool little spirally riff and another huge chorus which is really the essential ingredient of this sort of music! and then we have 'Remind Me' which is driven along by an acoustic guitar and is another great little track.

'Morning Light' opens with big vocals, and in fact the vocals are spot on thought the album with Pelata having a more than capable voice for the material. 'Can't You See' opens with an acoustic guitar piece that reminds me of 31-91 from the Hardline album Double Eclipse and in truth the whole track could easily be mistaken for an outtake from the Double Eclipse sessions.

Salvation's Edge is certainly very Journey, returning to the influences mentioned at the start of this review, however the feel of the song makes it more akin to later day Journey  such as could be found on the latest album Generations, particular the drum/guitar interplay at the start of the track! 'Falling Down (Hear My Prayer)' is a real rocker of track that reminds me of Shotgun Symphony circa their second album and then, rounding out the CD is 'Time To Say Goodbye' which is the only track to really feature keyboards and one I could see going down well at the end of a live set.

To sum up Line Of Fire of fire have come up with a good to okay melodic rock album, I can see why it has got some glowing reviews but IMO there only two three really stand out tracks on the album whilst the rest are merely OK with very few sticking long in the memory after playing. However this should certainly be a good foundation for the future and lets be honest how many bands have actually kicked off their careers with a stunning debut? It took both Def Leppard and Bon Jovi three attempts to hit pay dirt in financial and sales terms.
 

Let us know your views on 'Line Of Fire'

Track List

Faith In Fire
Live & Let Go
Fade
Paradise
Remind Me
Morning Light
Can't You See
Salvation's Edge
Falling Down (Hear My Prayer)
Time To Say Goodbye

Line Up

Shawn Pelata - Vocals/Keyboards
Ed Darst - Guitars/Bass
Nikki Dimage - Guitars/Bass/Keyboards
Justin Collins - Drums
Cliff Paul - Bass