VELVET THUNDER

The Canadian vocalist Rob Moratti may already be known to you as the singer with fellow Canadian band Saga between 2008 and 2011 and he supplied the vocals on The Human Condition album. He also was the voice on the four albums put out by AOR band Final Frontier as well as having his own very successful solo career too.

He has a voice that is perfect for AOR/melodic rock with a great range and is very impressive in the higher register too. If you know of his work then you will know what to expect and Paragon is another of his very pleasing melodic rock classics that have served him so well over the years. This is rock music of the type delivered by Journey and Styx so is very radio friendly rock but still has the required power and heaviness required from rock with lots of great guitar runs and a pleasing combination of anthemic ballads and pulsating rockers. Of course, the material also has wonderful choruses and some quite brilliant harmonies, all of which are part of the ‘Moratti’ trademark. He is actually another of those fine vocalists who should receive far more praise than he actually gets as he never disappoints and has been responsible for plenty of supremely crafted AOR over the years.

Moratti has pulled together a talented team for this new work and the musicians include Torben Enevoldsen (guitar, keyboards), Stu Reid (drums), Tony Franklin (bass) and there are two very special guests supplying guitar in Joel Hoekstra (Whitesnake) and Ian Crichton (Saga) and they all work tirelessly to make this the best AOR that they could produce.

Paragon is a slick, sophisticated and superior melodic rock classic but that is as expected from Rob Moratti, a performer who can always be relied upon to deliver the goods. The album was also produced and mastered by Rob Moratti, mixed by Moratti and Torben Enevoldsen and what a great job they have done with this record which simply oozes style and class.