Michael Bormann's Jaded Hard - Power To Win

[Stefan]

 

 

 

New album 'Power To Win' out October 28 through RMB Music.

From RMB Music:

RMB RECORDS proudly presents

Michael Bormann´s Jaded Hard - POWER TO WIN

Release date: 28.10.2022

PR contact: Birgitt Schwanke/ GerMusica PR info@germusica.com

And on we go...

Corona thoroughly slowed down the music industry, and the momentum of MICHAEL BORMANN’S JADED HARD along with it, but new music is finally available from Bormann and company. Following up their 2019 debut album “FEELS LIKE YESTERDAY,” their second CD – “POWER TO WIN” (because these 5 musicians wouldn’t let themselves be defeated!) will be released on all platforms on October 28, 2022.

POWER TO WIN once again showcases the power and expressiveness of MICHAEL BORMANN’s legendary voice and the full range of his song writing skills. In the usual manner, this is AOR / MELODIC ROCK at its finest - From up-tempo songs that will delight the headbanger’s heart, to powerful ballads that will melt the hearts of women and men alike.

But there is also something new. To bring in a breath of fresh air and new nuances to POWER TO WIN, Michael worked with other songwriters: Bruno Kraler on When I Look In Your Eyes, Pete Blakk on Little White Lies, Fredrik Joakimsson on A Step Away From Heaven, and Michael Maikel Müller on Hysteria - Wrong And Right, and When She’s Good.

The song We Must Make A Stand was a project about the current political situation with singers and other musicians from Duisburg (Michael´s hometown) and not originally intended for this album, but due to the positive response, Michael decided to include it on the record.

The second European tour unfortunately had to be postponed twice, but now the planning is once again in full swing, and, if all goes well this time, the boys will be back on the road rocking the stages in early 2023!

Line-up: Michael Bormann (Lead & Backing vox, Guitar), Chris Ivo (Keyboards, Backing vox), Maikel Müller (Drums), Christoph Baumeister (Bass, Backing vox), Tommy Dahlem (Lead guitar, Backing vox)

 

Tracks:

Nothing But A Photograph

Power To Win

Sweet Lullaby

Heaven

When I Look In Your Eyes

A Step Away From Heaven

Just Wanna Fall In Love

Little White Lies

Domino

When She's Good

Hysteria, Wrong Or Right

We Must Make A Stand

 

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Edited February 19, 2023 by Stefan

[Geoff]

I would really love for this to be good. I have very low expectations, but nothing would please me more than to be proven wrong. 

[AlphaMale]

From online sources:

Corona virus thoroughly slowed down the music industry, and the momentum of Michael Bormann’s JADED HARD along with it, but new music is finally available from Bormann and company. Following up their 2019 debut album ‘Feels Like Yesterday‘, their second CD – ”Power To Win” (because these 5 musicians wouldn’t let themselves be defeated!) will be released on October 28, 2022.

”Power To Win” once again showcases the power and expressiveness of Michael Bormann‘s legendary voice and the full range of his songwriting skills.

In the usual manner, this is AOR / Melodic Rock at its finest – from up-tempo songs that will delight the rockers heart, to powerful ballads that will melt the hearts of women and men alike. But there is also something new.

To bring in a breath of fresh air and new nuances to ”Power To Win”, Michael worked with other songwriters: Bruno Kraler on ‘When I Look In Your Eyes‘, Pete Alpenborg on ‘Little White Lies‘, Fredrik Joakimsson on ‘A Step Away From Heaven‘, and Michael Maikel Müller on ‘Hysteria‘, ‘Wrong And Right‘, and ‘When She’s Good‘, resulting in a much more varied and dynamic album.

Michael Bormann is back in full force 2022 with his sarcastically named band Jaded Hard. I’ve been following Michael’s career for several decades and when he left Jaded Heart in 2004, the band continued on but was never the same. Unlike a band like Dynazty, who successfully progressed from Hard Rock to Melodic Metal, Jaded Heart’s attempt at a heavier sound was not as solid as their past material.

Mr. Bormann then decided to carry the melodic sound of his former band forward to his new band JADED HARD.

There are some fabulous songs on offer here. Album opener ‘Nothing But a Photograph’ starts off slow and moody before kicking into double time gear and delivering solid melodic goodness with those rich, harmonic overdubs that Bormann is known for.

‘Little White Lies’ has that classic Jaded Heart sound that I use to look forward to with every one of their old releases. Solid melodies with soaring choruses.

The late Jimi Jamison once sang “It’s The Singer, Not The Song”. This perfectly encapsulates the ballad ‘Just Wanna Fall In Love’. An old school grandiose power ballad that exudes beauty in its simplicity. Michael sells the song with the passion in his vocals. What would otherwise be a standard by the numbers track becomes something more and it is his best vocal performance on the album. Magnificent.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have ‘Domino’. Not just the best song on this album, but one of the best songs of this year. An unassuming verse gives way to an explosive chorus that kicks your ass! The way Michael screams the title of the song sends chills up my spine. Perfect pitch, power, and layers of vocals makes this one of the best songs he has ever recorded, and he’s recorded a lot of great stuff. The arpeggio over the main riff is the icing on the cake. A flawless rocker.

Atmospheric ‘Wrong and Right’ speaks to me personally as we have a serious problem these days with simply agreeing to disagree with each other. He sings about the tragedy of not respecting each other’s worldview and it’s quite timely and tragically beautiful. The refrain of the word “hysteria” and Michael’s enunciation in the chorus is quite effective.

The album does have a few songs that could have been great, but different production sound decisions were made, and those decisions weaken the songs. I was a little let down by the title track. It’s an effective mid-tempo rocker with a Survivor-vibe but the chorus is lacking and a little dry. It sounds like it is missing an instrument in the background of the chorus. If they had added keyboards or even open guitar chords, it would have filled out the sound and made a big difference.

I would love to know what happened in the recording of the ride cymbal in the song ‘Heaven’. The ride is loud and upfront during the chorus, louder than every other instrument. The sound produced is like metal utensils being banged against a porcelain plate. It’s so distracting it ruins what would otherwise be a solid sing-along song.

We can definitively say that if you loved their last album, then this one certainly matches, maybe even exceeds their prior effort. The stronger songs are found on the latter half of the album, so if you choose to stream, make sure you listen to every song.

All fans of older Jaded Heart should feel grateful that Michael has not given up on the musical style that made them so beloved in this genre and that he has blessed us with another winning album.

Highly Recommended

[Geoff]

Matches, maybe even exceeds the debut isn’t exactly a glowing endorsement, but I’m still hoping for the best. One thing almost guaranteed is it’ll be better than the new Jaded Heart album. 

[Stefan]

New video for 'Domino'.

 

 

[lettard]

Not bad...I always worry when a band releases the album before we get to hear any of it...I'm hoping this is good as I've already preordered it and its on its way...although the debut didn't exactly pull up trees...but he is usually good value...and as Geoff said it'll be better than current Jaded Heart...which tbh isn't hard...unfortunately.

[Geoff]

3 hours ago, Stefan said:

New video for 'Domino'.

 

 

Solid. 

[AlphaMale]

Solid indeed

[The Rocker]

 

[lettard]

This is already sounding much better than the debut...for me anyway...thats another solid tune.

[Stefan]

More songs from the new album:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 30, 2022 by Stefan

[Geoff]

Turns out that this is actually half decent. I'll start off with the negative to finish on a high, but just to cover all bases... The song writing isn't great. It's capable and solid enough, but I can't help but at least somewhere in my mind compare this to something like 'IV', 'The Journey Will Never End' or 'Trust' and we're still a long, long way from there. But it's decent. One of my pet hates, though, is when bands record a song with a title of an already great song, even when they must know in their head that their version is fiercely inferior, conjuring up inevitable comparisons. 

That said, I am not sure if Bormann is a Danger Danger fan, or if he's ever even heard their song, 'When she's good she's good.' But if I had to make a guess, I'd assume he has heard it and therefore, I cannot understand why he included 'When She's Good' on this album. Apart from the absolutely wretched album closer, it's the second worst song on the album, and just comes off as a really, really limp clone of the D2 song. 

And, I have to say it... first time I've probably thought to myself that maybe Bormann's voice is finally past its peak. He's had a good run and still sounds like Bormann, but he's maybe not as fresh as he once was and this was the first album I noticed it a bit. 

Anyway, all that aside, I actually think this is a pretty decent album and if memory serves, probably his best album since Jaded Heart. The main thing is, it is a proper, solid stab at a melodic hard rock album. Whether it falters here and there or not, it's much better than what Jaded Heart are dishing up these days, and it's nice to see someone from the band putting in the effort. 

Favourite songs would be 'Nothing but a Photograph,' 'Heaven,' 'When I Look in Your Eyes' and 'Little White Lies.' Like I said, not everything hits the mark, but it's a decent album and better than I expected.   

[Stefan]

Video for 'We Must Make A Stand'.

 

 

[Geoff]

On 4/25/2024 at 5:30 AM, Stefan said:

Video for 'We Must Make A Stand'.

 

 

Atrocious redefined.