Here’s an interesting demo to be reviewing. HEAVEN’S RAIN is an Oklahoma-based melodic hard rock act that Brian of RockEyez and myself were introduced to a couple of months back. Turns out we met two of the members of the band at the Melodicrock.com Fest II in Elgin, IL at the hotel on the day we arrived. They were in town for the Fest also and gave us a demo CDR.

With the amount of material we get here at the offices of RockEyez it took me a while to get to it but since the guys we met (Brad and Mike) were nice enough it was the least we could do to give it a spin.

HEAVEN’S RAIN has a hard-edged melodic rock sound and since this is just a demo it has that certain local band “charm”. You know the bands we all grew up listening to at our local rock clubs back in the late 80’s opening for the big national-act hair bands of the day? I’m sure everyone remembers those types of bands!

Anyway, of the ten tracks on offer here you get a smattering of influences such as DOKKEN, FIREHOUSE, STRYPER and even a bit of TRIXTER. To a more obscure extent I could even say HEAVEN’S RAIN remind me of local melodic New Jersey band NORWAY at times.

Overall, the lead vocals could use some refining and the arrangements aren’t bad at all. Sure, the production could use a boost but this is only a demo and as I said it is about what I would expect. Highlight tracks that show some promise are the opening trio of “Games We Play” (pretty decent guitar work), “Died 4” and “Everywhere I Look”. “Elevation” is another cool rocker that is worth checking out too.

The songs have an overtly Christian slant and so it might be a reason to look into them if that’s your bag also. If you are a fan of CCM or just that old school 80’s melodic hard rock sound (with that “local band charm” of course) you should check out their website and MySpace page for music samples and more information.