CRUSH 40 – Crush 40

Crush 40 is a new group composed of Jun Senoue and Johnny Gioeli (Hardline). Senoue, in the past, has worked with the likes of Eric Martin, Tony Harnell, Ted Poley and Paul Shortino, and two of the songs on this CD are sung by Harnell and Poley. Other members of the band are previous members of Loudness, so you could call this something of a “supergroup.” In 2000, the team of Senoue and Gioeli released an album in Japan by the name of Sons of Angels, and got back together in 2002 to write the CD you will go out and buy after reading this review.

The CD starts off with a rocker called “Live & Learn.” Gioeli does have a distinctive voice, and if you are a fan of Hardline, you’ll inevitably draw comparisons. But you shouldn’t, because (sorry Schon) the team of Senoue and Gioeli write better songs than Hardline ever did. There is not a bad song on the CD. When you hear the guitar at the beginning of the third song, “Into the Wind,” that’s all it takes to suck you in. Their songs have a melodic heaviness to them, reminiscent of when ‘80s rock ruled the airwaves. They may not want to be compared to their ‘80s brethren, but it’s not often a melodic rock CD comes out that can be played in its entirety without skipping a couple songs. That really only happened in the ‘80s, like with Bon Jovi’s “Slippery When Wet.” And today, like with this CD.

“Watch Me Fly” is one of their slower songs. It’s catchy, smooth, almost a ballad. But they don’t really have too many slow songs like this. They mostly keep things upbeat, like with the song “Open Your Heart,” a song that Gioeli really belts out the verses and tones down the chorus. And when the guitar solo hits, you can hear why Senoue is finding success with this team. Gioeli can sing; Senoue can play.

The surprise comes when you get to track 10, “It Doesn’t Matter.” If you didn’t read the notes, you may expect to hear Gioeli voice’s again. But you don’t. It’s the aforementioned Harnell, opening with a scream and tearing into the song with rapacious glee. He doesn’t keep the attitude up, and does get to the melody at chorus time. It may also be the best song on the CD. And when he screams at the end of the guitar solo, it may remind you of Harnell’s “Deadly Metal ” days, when he screamed as much as he sang. He has a hold on both of those talents here, and he shines, along with the songwriting.

The last song is another surprise, a strangely happy tune titled “Escape From the City.” Ted Poley (Danger Danger, Melodica) takes his turn on lead vocals, and does a good job. It almost seems like this song was thrown in happenstance, like they wanted to get the CD to over 40 minutes, but the quirky song is pretty good.

For fans of melodic hard rock, that leans a little more towards “rock” than melody, just go out and get it. Fans of Deicide … probably not your thing.