In 1984 British rock band Bronz were one of the first bands associated with the "New Wave Of British Heavy Metal" to break America. Touring their debut album 'Taken By Storm' and fronted by lead vocalist Max Bacon the band found themselves playing to audiences in 30,000 seater stadiums, with the said album going on to sell 200,000 albums worldwide. The single 'Send Down An Angel' was also a firm favourite on MTV across America and Europe and featured an early appearance by actress Emma Thompson.

Then just as the band were about to reach the giddy heights of the second rung of the fame ladder and with a huge US tour organised in conjunction with the release for the second album 'Carried By The Storm' fronted by their brand new vocalist Ian Baker the band suddenly imploded.

For the next twenty five years this album has remained hidden gathering dust in the musical vaults until now, as guitarist Shaun Kirkpatrick dusts down those early master tapes to discover something of a hidden AOR masterpiece.

On fist listen you cannot deny that 'Carried By The Storm' has not dated particularly well especially on the saxophone led numbers of the title track and 'Man Girl Machine'. The dreaded instrument being the bane of the Eighties music scene, destroying many a good album track.

It would however be churlish of me to concentrate too much on the negatives as to be fair to the band this album is a fantastic display of AOR perfection. Each number reminds me of the great Eighties Hollywood blockbuster soundtracks; think Survivor, Boston, Starship and you get the picture. I could almost imagine myself driving across the desert on a road trip in an open topped Corvette with this album being played as my perfect soundtrack. Yet if I tell you that in fact it was whilst driving up the M4 in my trustee Fiesta on route to a gig by the legendary goth punkers The Damned that I was witnessing this album for the first time that doesn't quite hold the same magical image, so let's plump for the former shall we.

I can honestly hold my hand up and admit to not being an expert on AOR music but from my limited knowledge from the aforementioned soundtracks and discovering Journey through a late friend of mine a couple of years back, I have to admit that 'Carried By The Storm' is as equally as good as any of the music I've heard from that otherwise small sampling of the genre. What escapes me is why after waiting twenty five years to release this great music, the band hasn't seemingly made any effort on the album packaging, personally for me the unattractive album sleeve along with the badly designed album makes the whole thing quite unappealing. Which is a crying shame, and whereas I understand they may want to keep the original theme of the album, music fans such as myself who are otherwise unaware of the band's history will simply overlook this..

If you just let the music do the talking then, any fans of AOR will simply adore this hidden treasure, and whilst bands such as Journey experience their most successful period since their Seventies heyday thanks to a certain talent show, you do hope that Bronz may just get that second chance in the spotlight they so justly deserve.

http://www.bronz-music.com/