Melodic rock CD of the week

By Stephen Kasenda

SHY “Shy” (2011)

It's ironic and extremely sad to see a great guitarist create an awesome album that can match his peak in the 80s but then he passes away that same year. Hearts go to Steve Harris and his family for this catastrophic loss, but on a positive note SHY brought a fruitful record with a new singer, Lee Small, to replace the iconic screamer, Tony Mills, who went to their competitor, TNT.

'Land of A Thousand Lies' is an incredible start. After a long intro, the track blasts into a monstrous melodic hard rock tune with a chorus that is utterly mind blowing. SHY combines the classic style with heavy metal, as evident on tracks like 'So Many Tears' or 'Pray', which are both fantastic tunes. Lee Small caught me by surprise with his superb singing technique – at times, I slightly prefer him over Mills because there's a point that you grow tired of the glass-breaking shrilling shout of Mills.

But they also crawl back to their AOR roots. 'Only For The Night' and 'Over You', for instance, are flawless 10/10 quality songs. The uptempo 'Live For Me' reminds me of JOURNEY's classic, 'Separate Ways'. 'Ran Out of Time' and 'Save Me' aren't as good as those three, but still winners in my book.

However, there's volatility in the songwriting and I spot some weaknesses in at last four tracks. 'Breathe' is a predictable ballad, if not generic. 'Blood On The Line' isn't really interesting, 'Sanctuary' is actually pretty good but too long, and 'Union of Souls' is the weakest link. The production isn't great - you've heard lots of other albums that beat this sound.

SHY has largely accomplished a difficult mission to offer an outstanding album for the great year of 2011. I rated it 85% and placed it at #12 in my final list. A solid record and a legacy of Harris to be remembered!

Read more of Stephen’s features at MetalMusicArchives.

Classic melodic rock CD of the week

By Stephen Kasenda

SHY “Unfinished Business” (2002)

The similarity of Tony Mills' melodic screech with TNT legend, Tony Harnell - and with him joining TNT to replace the mighty Harnell - sparked my curiosity on Shy's back catalogue. Honestly, I didn't expect this 2002 release to be one of their best, but in fact it is! Jumping back to 1990 after “Misspent Youth” - a disappointing album according to the band - Shy still kept a lot of rough diamonds in the vault and when the opportunity arose in 2000 to do a new recording under Z Records, Mills and Harris decided it's time to finish the unfinished business.

"Skydiving" is an explosive melodic blast…you just can't believe there's a song like this in the year 2002. The soaring vocal, the thrilling guitar, it's basically like TNT in their golden years. "Change of Direction" didn't change anything, still grand and gorgeous. "Breakaway" is as strong as "Skydiving", another champion of the record and a huge contender to be the song of the year. "Mary-Anne" is another wow - power ballads have never been this good - it has that unimaginable beauty.

"Heaven Tonight", "Can't Stop Lovin' You", and "No Other Way" aren't slowing down and still racing to the top. Check out also the superb solos in "Whole Lotta Feelings", the song itself might not be as good as the others, but that solo guitar is killing everything. "Storyline" is another brilliant ballad in shape of classic Journey. I've told you before but now I need to tell you again, Shy didn’t spend two years recording this album for nothing: they managed to put out a ten-out-of-ten album in my book. Like my French friend said, "fantastique!"

Read more of Stephen’s features at MetalMusicArchives.