SoleDriver - Return Me To Light

[Stefan]

 

New project feat. Michael Sweet and everybody's favourite....ADV. 

Coming November 17th through Frontiers.

Edited July 29, 2023 by Stefan

[Stefan]

 

 

From Frontiers:

Frontiers Music Srl is pleased to present the upcoming debut album SOLEDRIVER (Sweet / Del Vecchio), which is a collaboration between two extremely talented and prolific songwriters, musicians, and producers, Michael Sweet (Stryper, Iconic, Sweet & Lynch) and Alessandro Del Vecchio (Edge Of Forever, Hardline, Jorn). "Soul Inside" sees these two incredible talents joining forces to make a killer melodic rock album that only they could create.

In their studio work, both Sweet and Del Vecchio have a shared vision of very detailed productions, and both love crystal-clear arrangements. But both never forget the power that a rock album needs to have, so "Soul Inside" showcases great, powerful deliveries, but nothing overwhelms the vocals and beauty of the melodies. To put it simply, the album is melodic rock in the style of Journey and Foreigner, but on steroids and with the unique Sweet and Del Vecchio sonic stamp on it.

“I’ve always been a metalhead at heart, but as much as I love metal, I love the melodic and “song” oriented side of music. Songs that move you and songs that touch your soul. So many bands from the '70s/'80s did just that. I’m proud to say that as much as I listened to Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, I also listened to Loverboy, Toto, Foreigner, Survivor, Journey, and many others. That’s what makes me who I am today. Diversity. So, I’ve always wanted to do an album that takes you back to those days and here it is!" exclaims Sweet.

"Working with Alessandro Del Vecchio has been an absolute pleasure and he’s an amazing talent. We worked together to record and produce an album we’re both very proud of. Every song has something powerful to say yet makes its own statement musically and lyrically. I could not be more excited about this release and I’m blessed to be able to work with a company (Frontiers) that allows me to follow and capture my dreams,” Sweet adds.

"It all started during the pandemic when Frontiers asked me to write a collaboration song featuring multiple artists Frontiers artists. Michael and I got in touch about that and kept in contact after that. I was surprised when he asked me to do an album together, one on which we would capture the melodic side of his singing and writing. We still couldn't fully hold back the power and fire that Michael has, but what we accomplished on "Soul Inside" is something that really reflects what an album with the two of us would sound like: melodic, anthemic, and with deep and spiritual lyrical messages" says Del Vecchio.

"One of the many cool things about working with Michael on this album was him asking me to play all guitars on the album as well. This is something I never do, but he thought I was really capturing the essence of these songs. So, here I am for the first time delivering the guitar parts I had in my head while writing these songs. I'm very honored to be teamed up with Michael as we share the same love for great sounding albums and we are perfectionists who never deliver below 100% and certainly always aim to go beyond our limits. I'm sure you're gonna end up singing, humming, and whistling these songs after you hear the album, while still being captured by the delivery of the vocals and the music, where passion, fire, and depth all melted into the essence of these songs," concludes Del Vecchio.

"RETURN ME TO LIGHT" Tracklist: 

1. Rise Again 

2. Anymore 

3. Pieces Of Forever 

4. Hope’s Holding You 

5. Spinning Wheel 

6. Out Of The Dark 

7. Eternal Flame 

8. To Be Saved 

9. Return Me To Light 

10. Soul Inside 

11. Wounded 

 

LINE-UP: 

Michael Sweet - vocals 

Alessandro Del Vecchio - guitars, bass, keyboards, backing vocals Michele Sanna – drums

 

 

 

Edited February 28 by Stefan

[melodicrock]

Same old sound and style...hard to keep up with the 400 project names being used by these guys.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

Not bad, but nothing too exciting. 

And not enough ADV. 

[Jez]

Same old cookie cutter Frontiers stuff. Absolutely no interest whatsoever

[CMGiordano]

4 hours ago, Jez said:

Same old cookie cutter Frontiers stuff. Absolutely no interest whatsoever

Just what you'd expect with ADV handling most of the songwriting!

[EnJayKay]

I like melodic Michael Sweet, although Frontiers are going overboard with him now much like Ronnie Romero and Girish Pradham...

But Del Vecchio...  I don't get it.  He can play keyboards real well.  But his writing, production, singing....  shit.

I probably wouldn't loathe him so much if the record label didn't force him down our fucking throats 3 - 4 times a month, and ruin projects with huge potential by making him the entire project and the featured artist essentially just a guest to sing over his terrible music.

Escape Music use him just right, he plays some keys and picks up a wage.  Job done.

So I'll probably give this a miss.

[CMGiordano]

19 hours ago, EnJayKay said:

I like melodic Michael Sweet, although Frontiers are going overboard with him now much like Ronnie Romero and Girish Pradham...

But Del Vecchio...  I don't get it.  He can play keyboards real well.  But his writing, production, singing....  shit.

I probably wouldn't loathe him so much if the record label didn't force him down our fucking throats 3 - 4 times a month, and ruin projects with huge potential by making him the entire project and the featured artist essentially just a guest to sing over his terrible music.

Escape Music use him just right, he plays some keys and picks up a wage.  Job done.

So I'll probably give this a miss.

Honestly, I don't think he's a bad songwriter. I just think they're asking him to do way too fucking much.

The first few projects they had him writing for were fine. Now that he seems to be writing every other album Frontiers does, he's clearly writing off of a formula and a rhyming dictionary to meet quotas and deadlines and it's getting worse by the song. They're scraping the bottom of the barrel and refuse to listen to anything but positive feedback about it.

[EnJayKay]

6 hours ago, CMGiordano said:

Honestly, I don't think he's a bad songwriter. I just think they're asking him to do way too fucking much.

The first few projects they had him writing for were fine. Now that he seems to be writing every other album Frontiers does, he's clearly writing off of a formula and a rhyming dictionary to meet quotas and deadlines and it's getting worse by the song. They're scraping the bottom of the barrel and refuse to listen to anything but positive feedback about it.

He might not be a bad songwriter...  but he's not a good songwriter either.

[CMGiordano]

7 hours ago, EnJayKay said:

He might not be a bad songwriter...  but he's not a good songwriter either.

What is it they say about a broken clock?

[EnJayKay]

Bin it?

Good advice where ADV is concerned 😅

[Stefan]

New video for 'Spinning Wheel'.

 

 

[metalmaniac777]

As much as I like Michael Sweet, this is shaping up to be his worst project by far. Glad to see the guy is getting work--gotta be tough to make it in the music business these days--but he rarely seems to deliver good songs outside of Stryper or his solo albums. But hey, he still sounds better than Don Dokken...

[Eric3]

1 hour ago, Stefan said:

New video for 'Spinning Wheel'.

 

 

 

This may be one of the worst songs ever released on the Frontiers label.

Edited October 26, 2023 by Eric3

[EnJayKay]

Del Vecchio truely just writes absolute shite, without fail.

[Stefan]

New song 'Return Me To Light'.

 

 

[metalmaniac777]

That latest single is better than the previous ones but still nothing to get too excited about.

[Geoff]

Well I'll say it - it's not great but it's better than anything I've heard from Sweet outside of Stryper for as long as I can recall. If I'm being honest, I probably prefer these songs to most recent Stryper songs too, but I'd still prefer to hear Sweet in Stryper, if that makes sense. 

But this is far better than the Sweet/Lynch albums, imo. 

All that said, I don't love it. It's just better than comparable projects. Production is good and songs are actually mostly pretty decent (except 'Spinning wheel' and 'Wounded'). Favourite track is 'Eternal Flame.' 

 

My biggest gripe with the album is actually something Glen brought up a few years ago in reference to the latest Stryper album at the time. It's not the case on every song, but a lot of the time I just can't understand what Sweet is singing. Sometimes it's fine, many other times I just can't understand the words. 

Anyway, it's a pretty typical project album, but definitely not that bad and probably even pretty sweet for Sweet diehards.  

[auslander]

I guess I am a Sweet die-hard, but even wearing that title proudly I am hesitant about thus one. Might leave it until I see it going cheap.

[metalmaniac777]

16 hours ago, Geoff said:

My biggest gripe with the album is actually something Glen brought up a few years ago in reference to the latest Stryper album...a lot of the time I just can't understand what Sweet is singing. Sometimes it's fine, many other times I just can't understand the words.

I'm a huge fan of Michael Sweet but you (and Glen) are not alone in this. While Sweet has pretty much fully retained the powerful vocals from his younger days, he has lost some enunciational clarity (yup, just made that up). At least half the time, I can no longer understand what he's wailing on about these days.

[nyoilers]

Nothing really stands out on this release.