Eyes of the Stranger 2011

"Drawing on the best from 80s AOR, Human Zoo have crafted a wholly enjoyable piece of work in the form of "Eyes of the Stranger", which is a massively melodic and coherently catchy release. The album finds itself somewhere in the transition zone between melodic metal and hard rock - and it is neatly wrapped in AOR mass appeal. The guitar riffs are full of elements which are recognizable to those who followed metal and hard rock in the 80s, and the synth bursts that enrich the musical textures have a definite 80s rock quality to them; there can be no doubt that "Eyes of the Stranger" is a fine representative of the classic 80s rock revival movement that is going on these days. Thus there are galloping guitar, hard rocking riffs, power chords, melodic keyboards, pumping bass lines, massive solid drumbeats, and incredibly melodic vocal lines galore on this album. And the blazing guitar solos do not exactly make things worse. Moreover, many of the tunes on the album prominently feature saxophone æeads - very tasty stuff indeed. "Eyes of the Stranger" is a fine melodic metal release which is recommended to fans of melodic metal and more hard edged AOR alike. (review originally posted at metalmusicarchives.com)"