Good things come to those who wait… that’s what they say isn’t?

It’s been almost five long years since we last heard from Gary Hughes and company but they finally return in 2011 with their brand new record “Stormwarning” out on Frontiers Records. The band seems to have as many fans as they do detractors; some like loving the brand of epic, melodic rock that they offer and others question Hughes vocals prowess and production on past efforts, seemingly writing the band off as nothing special.

To me, there is no question that over the last fifteen years and nine studio albums that the band has created some glorious, melodic and epic rock songs that have influenced many releases in the melodic rock world. They started out as more of an AOR act but quickly turned it up a notch to take the place of bands like WHITESNAKE and THIN LIZZY with an epic and melodic European hard rock sound. Records like “The Name Of The Rose”, “The Robe” and “Spellbound” contain some truly classic songs of the genre.

The band has been through some member changes the last few years but the mastermind Hughes is a constant and he has always surrounded himself with top notch guitar talent; whether it be original guitarist Vinny Burns, longtime member John Halliwell, hot young newcomer Chris Francis or brand new guitar slinger Neil Fraser, Hughes always seems to know how to pick ‘em! And he’s also come up with some legendary names to contribute to his albums… Don Airey once occupied the keyboard spot and on “Stormwarning” you get none other than Mark Zonder (ex-FATES WARNING) pounding the skins.

So with all that, does “Stormwarning” stand on its own as a classic TEN release? A resounding YES I say!!!

With classic sounding epic rockers like the album opener “Endless Symphony”, “Center Of My Universe”, “Destiny” and the title track “Stormwarning” to the rocking AOR sounds of “Invisible” (check out the guitar work on this one!) to all-out AOR numbers like “Love Song” and “The Hourglass And The Landslide”. The album closing “The Wave” even has a BEATLES influence going on and a cool bit of orchestration to round things out.

You really do get all that TEN is on “Stormwarning” and you get it with a solid and clear production! Zonder has a great drum sound and Fraser and company rip it up on guitar also.

So it took five years for Hughes to come up with a new TEN record, when it’s this good I don’t seem to mind (actually I do, so let’s try and not make it another five years between records, OK Gary?)! The album hits the street in mid-February, so check it out and just try and not agree that it’s a strong and classy record all the way around.