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TEN - Gothica


Stefan

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From Frontiers:

 

BREAKING NEWS: TEN ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM "GOTHICA", OUT JULY 7, 2017 VIA FRONTIERS MUSIC SRL

Melodic hard rock band TEN has announced they will release their new album, "Gothica" on July 7, 2017 via Frontiers Music Srl. The highly anticipated new album promises to be one of their strongest collection of songs to date. It is full of all the trademark textures and flavors we have come to expect from TEN, arguably one of the best and most consistent melodic hard rock bands in the genre. “Gothica” renews TEN’s longstanding association with the Frontiers label and proudly displays all the hallmarks of classic TEN albums and will surely continue to build upon the rich legacy that the great British rockers have forged over a career spanning 22 years and counting.

“Gothica” emerges as their darkest album to date. Embracing history, romance and erotic horror in equal measure as it does, the title proves to be a fitting name. As listeners, we are transported from the darker side of human nature to the nocturnal supernatural, a dramatic realm of nightmares and the forbidden. “Gothica” is cinematic in every sense of the word. A web of musically elaborate spells, evoking embers that spark the imagination courtesy of the classic song writing of vocalist Gary Hughes.

Of the album, Gary says, "I am extremely pleased with the collection of songs on "Gothica" as they feel like they belong together. The band are firing on all cylinders once again and it is a gift to the army of fans everywhere who have relentlessly supported us over the years. It is ironically fitting that our 13th studio album should be a little more sinister, at the same time retaining all the commercial traits usually associated with a Ten album."

Following their success on the recent albums “Albion” and “Isla De Muerta”, Hughes is joined once again by guitarists Dann Rosingana, Steve Grocott and John Halliwell along with bass player Steve McKenna, keyboard maestro Darrel Treece-Birch, and drummer Max Yates. On their third outing as a collective unit, the musicians in TEN have raised the bar even higher than they had previously. The album is full of stunning guitar work over a rich keyboard, bass, and drum tapestry with Hughes’ vocals once again bringing the nuances of the intricate lyrics to life.

“Gothica” was produced by Gary Hughes and mixed and mastered by Dennis Ward. TEN’s longstanding professional association with Dennis has been ongoing since he mixed their 2011 album, “Stormwarning”.

Additionally, the album features stunning original artwork by Stan W. Decker, depicting a beautiful enchantress reading incantations from a book whilst summoning shadowy characters from its pages. Stan has cleverly illustrated the piece in order to portray the characters emerging from the books pages as the actual characters from the songs on the album. The atmospheric sleeve photography is once again provided by the remarkably talented Adrian Ashworth.

Frontiers is proud to be working with the legendary TEN again and looks forward to sharing this stunning new album with the band's fans around the globe!

Tracklisting:

1. The Grail
2. Jekyll And Hyde
3. Travellers
4. Man For All Seasons
5. In My Dreams
6. The Wild King Of Winter
7. Paragon
8. Welcome To The Freak Show
9. La Luna Dra-cu-la
10. Into Darkness

TEN
Gary Hughes - Vocals, Backing Vocals, Guitar, Bass and Programming
Dann Rosingana – Guitar
Steve Grocott – Guitar
John Halliwell – Guitar
Steve McKenna - Bass Guitar
Darrel Treece-Birch – Keyboards
Max Yates - Drums and Percussion
Additional Backing Vocals – Karen Fell

www.tenofficial.com

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Geoff will be all over this one. He's gonna love it...

:whistle:

 

*vomit*

 

It's so sad, but I just can't see it being anything but absolutely terrible... with an absolutely terrible production job. :(

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One paragraph of the press release just about the artwork....awesome! ..........................NOT!

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Awww i've just bought their 1st album (on the strength of The Loneliest Place in the World) & am loving it on 1st listening so was quite excited when I spotted this thread.

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Awww i've just bought their 1st album (on the strength of The Loneliest Place in the World) & am loving it on 1st listening so was quite excited when I spotted this thread.

Debut album was great,and the next few that followed weren't too bad...I lost interest after "the robe" studio wise,although there are still some good songs like the title track of "spellbound" & "barricade" from Babylon but not enough for me :(

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Awww i've just bought their 1st album (on the strength of The Loneliest Place in the World) & am loving it on 1st listening so was quite excited when I spotted this thread.

 

Debut album was great,and the next few that followed weren't too bad...I lost interest after "the robe" studio wise,although there are still some good songs like the title track of "spellbound" & "barricade" from Babylon but not enough for me :(

I'll have a few more listens to the one I've just got, then try some of their others and see if I can make sense of their progression in style. Was surprised to see they'd done so many albums TBH. From what i read they've remained true to their original sound but possibly that's not always a good idea. Surely, unless you are a genius, you'd begin to run out of inspiration and lose the freshness of sound

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Awww i've just bought their 1st album (on the strength of The Loneliest Place in the World) & am loving it on 1st listening so was quite excited when I spotted this thread.

Debut album was great,and the next few that followed weren't too bad...I lost interest after "the robe" studio wise,although there are still some good songs like the title track of "spellbound" & "barricade" from Babylon but not enough for me :(

I'll have a few more listens to the one I've just got, then try some of their others and see if I can make sense of their progression in style. Was surprised to see they'd done so many albums TBH. From what i read they've remained true to their original sound but possibly that's not always a good idea. Surely, unless you are a genius, you'd begin to run out of inspiration and lose the freshness of sound

Gary Hughes is a genius.

The fact that they remain true to their original style is what i love about them.

It's funny that bands get criticized for staying true to their style and also criticized for changing their original style. Sometimes they can't win.

 

Give them a good go Silverkin. I think you'll love them....and take any negative comments about any band with a grain of salt.

 

Lettard is right, their earlier albums are definitely their best. Checkout "The Name of The Rose" and "The Robe". Also Gary Hughes's solo efforts, "Legends" and "The Once and Future King" I+II.

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Awww i've just bought their 1st album (on the strength of The Loneliest Place in the World) & am loving it on 1st listening so was quite excited when I spotted this thread.

Debut album was great,and the next few that followed weren't too bad...I lost interest after "the robe" studio wise,although there are still some good songs like the title track of "spellbound" & "barricade" from Babylon but not enough for me :(

I'll have a few more listens to the one I've just got, then try some of their others and see if I can make sense of their progression in style. Was surprised to see they'd done so many albums TBH. From what i read they've remained true to their original sound but possibly that's not always a good idea. Surely, unless you are a genius, you'd begin to run out of inspiration and lose the freshness of sound

Gary Hughes is a genius.

The fact that they remain true to their original style is what i love about them.

It's funny that bands get criticized for staying true to their style and also criticized for changing their original style. Sometimes they can't win.

Give them a good go Silverkin. I think you'll love them....and take any negative comments about any band with a grain of salt.

Lettard is right, their earlier albums are definitely their best. Checkout "The Name of The Rose" and "The Robe". Also Gary Hughes's solo efforts, "Legends" and "The Once and Future King" I+II.

Haha, thanks Darkstone.

I wasn't meaning it as criticism re staying true to style, it was more trying to understand why some bands might lose their shine if they do release a lot of albums. I think they can risk sounding too similar or losing their originality as they begin to run out of ideas.

 

You're right though, sometimes whatever a band does they can't win! Then again, that's what keeps life interesting-everyone's varied opinions and tastes. And at least they're attracting comment - it'd be MUCH worse if they were completely ignored

 

But as for Ten, I can't comment yet as my knowledge of them is severely limited.

I was asking myself earlier whether my tastes are prone to be influenced too much by others' opinions or not.....I think I sense a new thread topic looming

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Yeah, Silver, don't misunderstand. Probably everyone can tell you at least a couple of Ten albums they like. They used to be a great band. I am very fond of their early albums. It's just that they turned into a really bad band in recent years, to the point where listening to Hughes drone on about his horrific lyrical subject matters is really quite painful, imo. And the production of late has been a trainwreck too, making bad songs sound worse.

 

For the record, here's how I rate their albums;

 

Ten - 79%
Babylon - 78%
Far Beyond The World - 75%
The Name Of The Rose - 75%
The Robe - 75%
Heresy & Creed - 75%
Bonus Collection - 72%
Return To Evermore - 70%
Spellbound - 65%
Albion - 65%
Stormwarning 65%
Isla De Muerta - 50%
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Yeah, Silver, don't misunderstand. Probably everyone can tell you at least a couple of Ten albums they like. They used to be a great band. I am very fond of their early albums. It's just that they turned into a really bad band in recent years, to the point where listening to Hughes drone on about his horrific lyrical subject matters is really quite painful, imo. And the production of late has been a trainwreck too, making bad songs sound worse.

 

For the record, here's how I rate their albums;

 

Ten - 79%

Babylon - 78%

Far Beyond The World - 75%

The Name Of The Rose - 75%

The Robe - 75%

Heresy & Creed - 75%

Bonus Collection - 72%

Return To Evermore - 70%

Spellbound - 65%

Albion - 65%

Stormwarning 65%

Isla De Muerta - 50%

I reckon you've got the order pretty spot on, although as i am a fan i would rate them higher. Not that i'm into the rating thing.

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Awww i've just bought their 1st album (on the strength of The Loneliest Place in the World) & am loving it on 1st listening so was quite excited when I spotted this thread.

Debut album was great,and the next few that followed weren't too bad...I lost interest after "the robe" studio wise,although there are still some good songs like the title track of "spellbound" & "barricade" from Babylon but not enough for me :(

I'll have a few more listens to the one I've just got, then try some of their others and see if I can make sense of their progression in style. Was surprised to see they'd done so many albums TBH. From what i read they've remained true to their original sound but possibly that's not always a good idea. Surely, unless you are a genius, you'd begin to run out of inspiration and lose the freshness of sound

Gary Hughes is a genius.

The fact that they remain true to their original style is what i love about them.

It's funny that bands get criticized for staying true to their style and also criticized for changing their original style. Sometimes they can't win.

Give them a good go Silverkin. I think you'll love them....and take any negative comments about any band with a grain of salt.

Lettard is right, their earlier albums are definitely their best. Checkout "The Name of The Rose" and "The Robe". Also Gary Hughes's solo efforts, "Legends" and "The Once and Future King" I+II.

Just a small correction. "Legends" is a Bob Catley album. Written and produced by Gary Hughes. It sounds so much like a Gary Hughes album. I always think it is.

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True to their original style or not Gary's writing, vocals, productions have just gone nowhere and definitely not improved over the years. Funny cos during those couple of years between the debut and The Robe he was the one I was excited about carrying the torch and moving the genre forward.

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True to their original style or not Gary's writing, vocals, productions have just gone nowhere and definitely not improved over the years. Funny cos during those couple of years between the debut and The Robe he was the one I was excited about carrying the torch and moving the genre forward.

 

I was going to work through chronologically but it's proving tough for me as I don't tend to listen to similar styles in one sitting let alone the same artists (my iPod skips merrily between tracks of classical, big band, folk, country, rock etc etc).

Think I'll switch to the %age order Geoff and Darkstone have put above and one album from each every other day.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I think what I'm finding with their more recent pieces is that they have the feel of a musical, albeit rock ones. I can't tell if that's down to the compositions or the recordings. They feel as though they're made for the stage with actors and scenery etc and I would probably enjoy them more with visuals.

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I'll look forward to this as much as I'd look forward to having a root canal. In fact I'd rather have a root canal than listen to this.

Oooh, harsh!

 

I think I can forgive them anything for giving the world The Loneliest Place in the World :bigten:

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I know what it's reminding me of, Cliff Richard's rock musical of Heathcliff which I actually think had some really good music in it but I probably wouldn't have put much of it on my player to listen to as it needed to be seen on the stage

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  • 4 weeks later...

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