Marc Vanderberg
Phoenix From the Ashes

It is the second album for Vandererg who comes up like a Phoenix from the ashes. He has put together an album of ten tracks with a decent set up of vocalist where the most known one has to be Göran Edman known for singing with the likes of Malmsteen and Brazen Abbott, but there are some more as well. The artwork isn’t fantastic but pretty cool nonetheless and the album has received a mixed reception on the web, at least in the review that I have found, some fantastic ratings and some quite low ratings.

Some Swedes comes to mind when looking at possible inspirations for Vanderberg and this album, Malmsteen and Europe are what I come to think of when I listen to this album. Classic rock, hardrock, heavy metal are ways I would use to describe this album. It has a decent production but nothing that stands out in that term. The vocalists are good, especially Edman but the other guys work well too. The playing time is kept sensible which is a good thing, and thanks to the use of several vocalists it is a fairly varied album as well.

I would describe this as a pretty good album, or at least an okay album. The songs are okay, relatively catchy and so one but the album also feels a little bit sterile – I think it needs more emotion and more energy. I would say that this is good but it doesn’t really catchy the attention of the listener and it doesn’t stand out compared with much other stuff in the genre. It seems to be a bit overworked, overproduced, sterile and without imagination, but it presses the right buttons so it could probably appeal to some – at least there are reviews to indicate this.

If you like the classic heavy metal/hardrock or the similar bands could probably find this alum to be interesting, it could be worth checking out. There is a decent chance that you will find this album appealing but the chance is probably equally large that you will find it a bit indifferent. The ending conclusion will have to be that it is an okay album but not a very memorable one.

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