Gary John Barden United Kingdom

"Vocalist Gary John Barden is somewhat of a hard rock veteran, and his vast experience definitely shows on this release which, despite it being a solo album by a vocalist, is very guitar-driven. The opening track 'Baghdad' is an aggressive metal track which criticizes the U.S.-led war in Iraq, and the similarly themed 'We Are Dead' and 'Before the Eyes of the World' is a heavy and dark hard rock track, and 'Easy Does It' has a 70s Southern rock feel to it. Tunes like 'Fallen by the Wayside', 'Child of Sorrow', 'Would you Wanna Do', 'Shine a Light on Me', and 'Don't Take me for a Loser' are more melodic old school hard rock tracks with emphasis on catchy choruses and classic hard rock styled riffs, and 'All In' is more of a pop-oriented yet guitar-driven AOR rock tune while 'Blackmail' is a boogie-blues rocker. Unlike many other hard rock solo vocalists, Gary John Barden has a quite raw and rock 'n' roll friendly voice, which definitely suits both the more metal-oriented tracks and the more melodic hard rock tracks equally well. Also, I find it refreshing with a hard rock album that actually takes up some serious political topics (I mean just check out the cover art, displaying a city on fire), giving the listener some food for thought, as this album definitely does. "Eleventh Hour" is a very solid hard rock release, which is recommended to fans of melodic metal and 80s hard rock, who do not mind lyrics that are deeper than tits, booze, and ass. (review originally posted at metalmusicarchives.com)"