CoreLeoni - II (AFM Records)

Those of you who would consider yourselves to be fully paid-up aficionados of Euro hard rock will of course be familiar with guitarist Leo Leoni, long time guitarist with Swiss rock institution Gotthard. In 2019 he has reactivated his CoreLeoni project, which seeks to put new life into some of the man’s fave old Gotthard tunes, alongside a couple of new songs and a couple of covers for good measure…

Along for the ride again is seemingly rock’s fave singer du jour, Ronnie Romero, whose slightly faceless vocals may have ruined the Rainbow reanimation (for me, at least) but who here fears much better, despite once again being given the thankless task of stepping into the shoes of a deceased giant. He manages to make stone cold Steve Lee/Gotthard classics such as Make My Day sound vital and relevant, giving a gritty performance that probably underlines that I’ve been wrong about the young chap all along.

Did I mention covers? Well, the big surprise here is an earth shatteringly good reading of Cobra’s Travellin’ Man, which Gotthard originally covered (though not as well as this) on 1994’s Dial Hard; Not many singers can live with the sadly deceased Jimi Jamison, whose original version of this track was one of the man’s all time great performances. But Romero pulls it off, and the band deliver a storming version of the tune to back him up. It’s a standout moment on the album for sure.

Queen of Hearts is the stronger of the two new tracks, coming on a bit like latterday Whitesnake with Leoni and guitar compadre Jgor Gianola doling out the muscular yet melodic riffs in splendid fashion. That ‘Snake comparison shines through on Open Fire, too, which I guess shouldn’t surprise since the song originally came out in 1994 on the afore-mentioned Dial Hard. It’s a bit of a storming tune, it has to be said, and indeed everything here has something to recommend it to fans of simply constructed, uber-melodic hard rock straight outta the old school. A fun listen!