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Jakob Samuel has been a busy lad of late. A new album from his day job in The Poodles is due later this year, but in the meantime, fans of his velvet vocals can make do with Kryptonite. The band Kryptonite, the side project Kryptonite, the purveyors of lush harmonies and huge melodies Kryptonite. AOR-tastic mate. Having Alessandro Del Vecchio on board should give you an idea what to expect. If anyone can put four relative strangers in a room (or together online) and get an album out of them, it’s Frontiers Music go-to guy. Here, he got together with Samuel, guitarist Michael Palace, drummer Robban Back and Samuel’s ex bandmate in The Poodles – bassist Pontus Egberg, and squeezed a classy AOR/melodic rock album out of them. The keyboards are way up in the mix, as you would expect, but thankfully, Palace’s guitar licks don’t suffer too much for this. He gets plenty of airtime on the opening pairing of ‘Chasing Fire’ and ‘This Is The Moment’, which is no mean feat considering how in-yer-face Samuel’s vocals are, a much underrated vocalist that deserves to be heard on a grander scale. I put Samuel in the same category as Hardline’s Johnny Gioeli, someone that could sing the phone book and still elicit an emotional response. ‘Keep The Dream Alive’ shows the Swedes vocal prowess, quintessential melodic rock that ticks all the boxes, as does ‘Across The Water’, a slow, sultry groove that sizzles in a Whitesnake ‘1987’ kinda vibe. The changes in pace throughout are what make the song stand out. ‘Knowing Both Of Us’ is the big ballad. You know it’s coming, so when the mournful piano begins, and Samuel begins to pour his heart out, the lighter is already in the air. When the “knowing you, knowing me, knowing both of us” line comes in on the chorus, it’s hard not to see it as a tip of the hat to Abba (or Alan Partridge… you choose!). After drying your eyes, it’s time to crank it up on ‘Get Out Be Gone’, the fastest of the eleven tracks featured. No, it’s not thrash metal fast, but it’s still fast, and will get the feet tapping in appreciation. Album closer ‘No Retreat No Surrender’ is tailor made for a training montage in an 80’s movie where the weedy kid gets his shit together and bulks up. The only problem is, today you couldn’t have a Mr Miyagi-type older dude making a teenager ‘wax on’… and definitely not ‘wax off’! ‘Kryptonite’ is a fun and enjoyable album. Fans of quality AOR/melodic rock should find plenty within to make them smile. With The Poodles revving up for a new album, and bassist Egberg touring with King Diamond, it’s hard to see whether or not this album will lead to live dates. A sophomore album seems like a certainty though. Available now on Frontiers Music SRL Review – Dave Stott]]>
