Quick Reviews: Robledo & Voyager

Does melodic rock have anything to offer us today? Let's see...

Robledo - Broken Soul

Oh joy, yet another album featuring James Robledo. This marks his second solo album in short order, plus his album with Demons Down earlier this year, all before the actual band he came onto the scene with makes a second record. As I've said many, many times, I'm rather tired of the over-saturation this label creates for all of their young musicians. Robledo is a fine singer, and this record is also pretty good, but it's just too much of the same damn thing.

This record, though, is definitely better than the Demons Down record from earlier in the year. This one comes from the reliable hands of the songwriting factory, which at least ensures a degree of quality, even if it means you'll swear you've heard this record many times before. The difference between this, and a group like Sunstorm right now, is minimal at best. They're practically identical, but it does highlight the difference a voice can make. Despite the songs being the same, Robledo sounds far more natural and comfortable singing this material than Ronnie Romero does.

We all know the issues records like this have, since I've gone on about them ad nauseum. It's played out, too close to his other releases, and yada yada yada. That said, it's a solid album with decent songs and really good vocals, so the complaints are only worth so much. I'd like something a bit more unique, but this is still worth giving a listen.

Voyager - Fearless In Love

When I first heard of this band, they were presented as a melodic prog band. To be fair, I never really heard much actual 'prog' to their sound, but that still doesn't prepare us for what this album has to offer. Somewhere along the way, the band decided to go all-in on electronic pop. I'm blaming their appearance in Eurovision, which might have convinced them they had a chance of breaking through into the mainstream. I would have advised them against that idea.

This album is one of those whose appeal is completely lost on me. There are still enough down-tuned riffs that pop fans aren't going to want to listen to this, and also far too much electronic influence for the rock fans to be happy. It doesn't even do pop well, as the vocal lines are all extremely flat and uninteresting. It's straddling three different lines at the same time, but that just means the band doesn't have solid footing anywhere.

I know what Voyager was going for here, but they're far off the mark. The Night Flight Orchestra showed there's at least some appetite for glitzy pop rock, but the difference between the two groups is night and day. Voyager either isn't comfortable in the pop realm they're jumping into, or they've never listened to enough pop music to have absorbed what makes great pop music work. Either way, this record is a bit of a stylistic mess.