Well now, ain't this Italian Heavy AOR band a nice surprice to be found on the Perris Records label! That's a statement, not a question, because the keyboard-driven Melodic Heavy Rock tunes Bad Memories brings on its debut album are a far cry from the Glam/ Sleaze acts we usually find on the label.
Founded in 2006 by members whom had been in several modestly successful musical projects before, the band threw itself on the Hard 'n' Heavy scene of the Tuscan area after a couple of months of rehearsal practice with positive response from the audiences. To improve its sound and change its style somewhat, the line-up of the band went through a couple of changes, stabilizing both line-up and musical style around the turn of 2009 to 2010 with the quintet of lead singer Francesco Fagiolini, guitarist Enrico Dal Canto, keyboardist Federico Meranda, bassist Andrea Rivello, and drummer Angelo Carmignani Next up, the band got in touch with their current manager Cristiano Bertocchi (himself an artist active in the bands Vision Divine and Labyrinth), and thanks to his advices and contributions got started on their debut album (which was recorded under productional supervision of Olaf Thorsen – also of Vision Divine and Labyrinth fame), which they finished in 2011. Somehow, the band got its material under the attention of US label Perris Records...and the rest is history!
Old history, one might say, even if I only got the material (in the form of a promo download) in mid-September of last year. True, this should've been reviewed ages ago, but as some of you may know, a combination of changes at work caused me to be cut off from the Internet for several months just around that time, and on top I suffered from writers' block from which I was only able to recover at the beginning of this year. By then, work had piled up, and since I was forced to work at a diminished tempo (again, work conditions, you know!), it took some time to get this far. Anyway, we're here now, so we better get on with the actual work at hand, and stop apologizing!
The label info tells us Bad Memories' debut is to be recommended for fans of the likes of Dokken, Danger Danger, Survivor, Firehouse and Skid Row, but I would emphasize to recommend it to the fans of those bands' more melodic side (in the case of the “heavier” bands cited). Plus points are the perfect English of the lead singer, as well as his warm high pitch, which manages to never actually sound heady. Furthermore, both guitarist and keyboardist leave each other room to put in great-sounding lead and solo bits. On the lesser side, there's the backing singer(s?), who doés sound a bit off, and the fact that some of the riffs on the album are quite simple. I mean, a slight touch of extra notes here and there would've done wonders. Ach, things being as they are, you can listen to a couple of the album's songs (4 of them, in 2011 demo form) at (www.) myspace.com/badmemoriesofficial (no blogs to inform the possible interested on updates about the band, though...and no tour dates either). At the same page, you'll also find a link to YouTube. The band also has a page on facebook, which holds the same music ànd tour dates!
If a somewhat heavy keyboard-driven AOR is your thing, then by all means dó check out this Italian band. The band gets good points for composition and delivery anyway!