GIANT Promised Land (2010)

04 March 2010
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When Giant disbanded in the early 90’s they were hardly missed. The melodic rock scene had disappeared with the 80’s and there was no room for melodic rock bands any more. It would be safe to say that the band who scored the mega power ballad single ‘I’ll See You In My Dreams’ (from the bestselling album ‘Last Of The Runaways’) back in 1989 has little to do with the current line-up. While back in those times it was mainly the keyboard player Alan Pasqua who composed impeccable and exquisite pop rock anthems, nowadays he’s badly missed. Unfortunately no Dan Huff in the band too. That’s the only bad news. Much like Journey (who play in a higher league than Giant, I know), Giant found a very good new singer. His name is Terry Brock. The bloke possesses one of the cleanest and most pleasant voices I have ever heard. When you listen to this new album ‘Promised Land’, it could be any other proficient melodic rock band, that’s true, but still there’s something which reminds me of the old Giant albums. I don’t believe it’s the unique bass playing of the only original member left, David Huff, because it’s not unique at all, so it must be the songwriting. Tunes like the title song and ‘I’ll Wait For You’ are epic, catchy as Chlamydia and definitely Giant. On the other hand sometimes this band can accumulate the best of AOR genre that is why some songs like ‘Believer’ sound a bit like the long gone super group Bad English. Everything is awash with layers of delicious synths and caressed by melodic guitars. ‘Promised Land’ could be a perfect album if it wasn’t almost an hour long. There a couple of songs which could be easily discarded as they sound as B’ sides. Another negative point is that sometimes there’s too much sugar and things descend into blandness, but gold-solid choruses usually save the songs.
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