Ten - Here Be Monsters

[Stefan]

 

New album 'Here Be Monsters' out February 18 next year through Frontiers.

[Jez]

...which will probably sound like all their other recent releases which have all been far from great. 

[Stefan]

 

New song 'Fearless'.

From Frontiers:

UK hard rock stalwarts TEN used the downtime during the worldwide pandemic to work on not one, but two new albums. The first album to be released, "Here Be Monsters", will land on February 18, 2022. Following the success of the recent string of albums, from “Albion” to “Illuminati”, Hughes is joined once again by guitarists Dann Rosingana, Steve Grocott and John Halliwell along with bass player Steve McKenna, and keyboard maestro Darrel Treece-Birch. Drums on the album have been handled by Markus Kullman (Sinner, Glenn Hughes, Voodoo Circle). TEN continue to raise the musical bar higher for themselves, a goal they push on every release. Stunning guitar work, rich keyboards, excellent bass and drum interplay along with Hughes’ rich vocals are the order of the day here. 

“Here Be Monsters” 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” and has always guaranteed albums with stunning sound and production

Fans should note that there are no ties between this and the next album, ie. "Here Be Monsters" is not a "Part One" or anything of this nature. The band has simply crafted two high quality releases and decided to put them out separately, in a fashion not too dissimilar to what happened to the amazing first two records which were recorded one after the other in a very short period of time.

British hard rockers TEN have an outstanding history of releases in their storied and revered catalog. Starting out as a sort of solo project built around singer and songwriter Gary Hughes, TEN found their audience playing a hard rock sound influenced by such giants as UFO, Thin Lizzy, Magnum, Giant, and Whitesnake in a time when playing this particular sound was considered ommericial suicide. The band's early records such as “The Name Of The Rose”, “The Robe”, “Spellbound“, and “Babylon” established the band as mainstays in the melodic hard rock genre, which has continued throughout their now 26 year career over the course of 14 studio albums. 

Tracklisting:
1.    Fearless
2.    Chapter And Psalm
3.    Hurricane
4.    Strangers On A Distant Shore
5.    The Dream That Fell To Earth
6.    The Miracle Of Life
7.    Immaculate Friends
8.    Anything You Want
9.    Follow Me Into The Fire
10.    The Longest Time

Line-Up:
Gary Hughes - Vocals
Dann Rosingana - Lead Guitars
Steve Grocott - Lead Guitars
John Halliwell - Rhythm Guitars
Darrel Treece-Birch - Keyboards
Steve McKenna - Bass

 

 

Edited December 7, 2021 by Stefan

[Geoff]

Cool album cover, bad song. Production sounds, okay, though, which is a change in recent times. But as long as the songs are this bad how can one possibly drum up any interest for this band anymore?

[lettard]

Really nice album cover indeed...but ten for me this last while...yawn...as Jez pointed out they all sound the same,i'd have difficulty picking which track came from which album tbh

[Stefan]

New lyric video for 'Hurricane'.

 

 

[Stefan]

New lyric video for 'The Miracle Of Life'.

 

 

[gener8tr]

Name of the Rose is such a great album... at least we have that.

 

[Geoff]

18 hours ago, gener8tr said:

Name of the Rose is such a great album... at least we have that.

 

lol. They were all good up to and including 'Babylon,' imo.

A quarter of one of my ears listened to bits of the new album and I think (and I seriously mean that, that I think - I'm not sure by any means), that the new album sounds a little bit better than recent efforts.

BUT! So far gone are this band, that it's still painfully boring, bland and to be brutally honest, just unlistenable. 

But I think it's better than the last one... I think. 

Gary Hughes sounds as sick and tired and bored of these songs as we all are.

[Glen]

I got 4 songs in and gave up. Bored me senseless 

[Jez]

It is better than their last couple of releases and the first half is fairly good, but it just drags on and on. Most of the songs are way too long (and that's coming from a major prog fan  ) and you quickly lose interest after the first verse/chorus. In the end absolutely no surprises, but were we expecting any? 

[Thomas/Coastline]

Superb album title. ; )

[Eric3]

I'm listening to this now and I really like it. I can't say I was too into this band before and I can see how this style of music can get boring, but you could say the same about most of the cookie-cutter AOR being released these days. There's nothing new under the sun there so this is a cool change of pace for me. Longer songs with a more chill atmosphere (kinda reminds me of modern Dare in that respect) and a proggy touch, with far less cliche lyrics.

Also, Gary Hughes is a hell of a singer. His voice is so confident and assertive. Kind of odd to hear such low-register vocals in melodic rock but count me among the people who love it.

This is a great song!

 

Edited March 27, 2022 by Eric3

[Stefan]

'Here Be Monsters' full album: