Welsh Rocker, Chez Kane has been on the “One To Watch” list for a while now as part of the three-sister trio fronting the amazing Kane’d, but now after releasing a selection of covers of some rock greats on YouTube she has been given a record deal by Frontiers and is releasing her debut album containing ten original tracks.
By her own admission, although she was born in the Nineties, she has always had a love of that Eighties Rock vibe, so it should come as no surprise that when she hooked up with Danny Rexon of the Swedish rock act Crazy Lixx to both collaborate and produce the album, that it would have a distinctly Eighties flavour.
Better Than Love’ kicks things off with the pomp of an eighties synth patch that quickly gets surrounded by a driving drum beat, rocky rhythm guitar and Kane’s powerful voice that has a breathy quality that is unique to her and makes her performances instantly recognisable.
The addition and some great sax playing gives the track something of a Foreigner feel to it. `All Of It’ brings in the Kiss style off kick drum ala ‘I Love It Loud’ and rocks with the best of them as guitars distort and Kane digs deep adding some grit to her tone making this a real fist punching anthem.
Rocket On The Radio’ which is the second single to be lifted from the album is a real tonic for the current times. It conjures up the good time feel of the summer as peddled by her peers such as Y&T, Vixen and Poison and is extremely commercial sounding.
If this doesn’t hit the charts then I’ll shave my hair off! Staying in a similar vibe, `Get It On’ with its infectious guitar riff, fast beat and melodic choruses reels the listener in.
The first single to come out, `Too Late For Love’ pulls out all the stops with heavily chorused backing voices, a driving guitar part and Ms Kane kicking serious ass vocally.
Some meaty soloing as contributes to this being an epic track. `Defender Of The Heart’ sees Kane going down the Michael Bolton route and emerging as the victor in this heartfelt power ballad that oozes emotion from her superb vocal.
Song along time comes in the form of `Ball N’ Chain’ replete with a guitar riff that’s a close cousin to Bon Jovi’s `Living On A Prayer’. “Na Na”s, and power chords galore reside within this song that has all the hallmarks of a well penned Robin Beck track which is bound to get an audience jumping and singing when played live.
Midnight Rendezvous’ seems to have Kane singing lyrics at lightspeed with pure clarity, as this track romps along at breakneck speed in this energetic rocker.
Die In The Name Of Love’ sees synths and guitars join forces to drive this track along.
More singalong hooks and melodies form an unbeatable formula here. If you remember Fiona Flanagan then you’ll love this! Final track, `Dead End Street’ slows the pace, but still punches above its weight and hits hard leaving to reeling and wishing for more.
Chez Kane should be extremely proud of her first album. It successfully acts as a time machine transporting the listener back to the wonderful days of rock and hair metal where the likes of Lita Ford, Heart, Vixen, Robin Beck, Lee Aaron and Chrissy Steele ruled the female side of rock alongside Def Leppard, Motely Crue, FM and Bon Jovi.
There is a taste of all of these artists to be found here but given the unmistakable Chez Kane vocal spin and brought up to date in a refreshing way.
Every track is a killer and the song writing and production is some the best I’ve heard in this genre in a long while.
Kane is heading for much greater things with the launch of this album and I for one cannot wait to see her perform these songs live. Chez Kane the new Rock Queen!!
Roll on live music and album number two!!
Tracklist:
- Better Than Love
- All Of It
- Rocket On The Radio
- Get It On
- Too Late For Love
- Defender Of The Heart
- Ball N’ Chain
- Midnight Rendezvous
- Die In The Name Of Love
- Dead End Street
CHEZ KANE. Buy or Stream: https://orcd.co/chezkane
https://www.facebook.com/ChezKaneVoca… https://www.instagram.com/chez_kane #ChezKane #DannyRexon #FrontiersRecords
Review by Paul Sabin for MPM
