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JOEL HOEKSTRA'S 13 - Dying To Live - 7/107/10
7/10
Summary
Frontiers Records
Release date: October 16, 2015
User Review
( votes)Joel Hoekstra’s 13 is the side project of multi-faceted guitarist Joel Hoekstra, who’s best known for his work with Night Ranger, TSO, and Whitesnake, and Dying To Live is his debut record. Hoekstra’s Melodic Hard Rock band is jam-packed full of superstars in the industry, including Jeff Scott Soto and Russell Allen sharing vocal duties, Vinnie Appice pounding the drums, and Tony Franklin slapping the bass.
Dying To Live is a very introspective record filled with life’s struggles and (what appear to be personal) crossroads, which tends to tiresome as the album progresses, but there’s still plenty to enjoy here.
Having listened to this album for the past 3 weeks, it is a very good AOR-type recording, albeit not quite as heavy as I usual listen to. With that said, the songwriting is quite good. If I had to pick favorite tracks, it would be the title track, Until I Left You , and Say Goodbye to the Sun being my favorites. Huge compliments to JSS & Russell for their work here also, very well done. For my listening ears, a 7/10 but those who like this style more may rate it higher.