Label: Frontiers Records
Review by Tony Cannella
The Norwegian queen of melodic hard rock is back with her 4th album. Issa Oversveen released her debut album “Sign of Angels” in 2010 and through her following albums and up to her latest release (“Crossfire”) she has continued to carve out a steady path in the world of melodic hard rock.
Like her previous releases Issa presents an album full of up-tempo, melody heavy melodic hard rock. I have always said that it is impossible to be angry or in a bad mood while listening to Issa’s music and “Crossfire” is no different. The bouncy “Crossfire” gets us off to a high energy start that is heavy on the vocal harmonies that will stick in your head long after you’ve heard it for the first time. “New Horizon” is next and instantly became a huge favorite. The next track “Raintown” is my absolute favorite. This song sees Issa performing a duet with Steve Overland from the band FM and I feel that this song has the capabilities of being a huge hit. Hopefully it will get the attention it deserves because I definitely feel that this can appeal to wide range of music fans. Other highlights include: “Long Time Coming”, “Heartbeat”, “Ghost Inside My Heart” and “Only You”.
I don’t want to say that this is commercial music, because I have no idea what is commercially viable these days, actually I think Issa has gone against the grain with her music. “Crossfire” and her previous releases is something you don’t get a ton of these days. Maybe this is the new alternative music? Whatever happened to just good songs? With “Crossfire” Issa has that covered.
Rating – 90/100
Tracklist
- Crossfire
- New Horizon
- Raintown feat. Steve Overland (FM)
- Long Time Coming
- Fight Fire With Rain
- Heartbeat
- Electric Lights
- Ghost Inside My Heart
- Red Lights
- We Rise
- Only You
Line Up
- Issa – Vocals
- James Martin – Keyboards
- Tom Martin – Bass and Guitars
- Michael Cruise – Drums