Ten - Stormwarning

A great offering from a former powerhouse band, but what's with the HIM vibe?It has been 5 years since we have heard new Ten music, and that is way too long. Ten was a powerhouse in the late 90's and early new millennium, by releasing some of the best hard rock of the time.  Since 2001 the band has had a proverbial revolving door, in regards to bandmembers, virtually leaving vocalist Gary Hughes as the practically the only constant.  Unfortunately, after the departure of long time guitarist Vinny Burns, it doesn't seem like the band has been able to recover the original magic, from the first several releases.   The band has persevered and continued to release product over this past decade, with some highlights, but has not been able to match the success that they had earlier on in their career.

Stormwarning marks the return of the band, after a 5 year hiatus.  The band is poised to re-capture their old sound and take over the world.  The CD contains ten tracks of basic Ten.  The CD is is a mixture of mid-tempo and up tempo rockers that follow the basic Ten formula.   There is nothing really new going on with this one, just standard AOR hard rock, with a hint of progressive rock.  The first track to get me going is the Centre of My Universe, that starts off with a cool acoustic guitar intro, which breaks in to an Enter Sandman type riff, before taking it's own identity.  It is a killer track with a catchy chorus and a nice strong melody.  Another track on the record, that really stood out, was the ballad Love Song.  It is a mid-tempo ballad with a very strong chorus and a nice melancholy vibe about it, which reminds me of more commercial HIM.  All in all not a bad return from the boys.  I had hoped this one would have been a bit stronger, but it is still a pretty good release.

Bottom Line:  Ten are back doing what they do best by creating some solid ARO hard rock.  It is weird because I do here some HIM influence on this record.  At times Hughes is singing melancholy like Ville Valo, which gives the songs a total Him vibe, but just poppier.

Standout Tracks: Love Song, Centre of My Universe,

-Ragman wants to know when Ten started sounding like a poppier HIM.