Adellaide - 'New Horizons'

A well-crafted body of Melodic Rock.

There is the subtle touch of illusion at play with Adellaide's latest release. A visually stunning cover, created by Joey Polycarpo, tantalises by portraying a futuristic world overlooked by another planet. This meshes seamlessly with song titles such as 'Ring Of Saturn', 'Robotica' and 'Paradise Grace' to hint at something exotic and visionary just waiting to explode in your eardrums. Therefore, it does come as a surprise when dramatic power chords that were popular in the late eighties and nineties, a time when Soft Rock was joyfully trampling throughout the mainstream Pop music scene, become the main musical driving force that propels this well-crafted body of Melodic Rock.

'Robotica' starts proceedings at a decent tempo and it's by far one of the better tracks out of the ten offered by this quintet from Brazil. It's also one of those infectious tunes that becomes quite difficult to shake from your head, no matter how hard you try. Other standouts include 'Times Hotel', 'Tonight (Once In A Lifetime)', 'Ring Of Saturn' and 'It's Just A Matter Of Time'. Complementing its mostly retro sound is an infusion of modern Melodic Rock that integrates well, and this combination produces forty-seven minutes of material that presents vocalist Daniel Vargas with a platform to show that he has a good tone to his voice and can hit a variety of ranges throughout.



Vitor Balconi is equally impressive on guitar, and he drops some nifty riffs into the fray alongside enough solos to keep air guitarists drooling. The keyboards are supplied by Leandro Freitas, and he interacts well with Balconi to produce a satisfying mix of backup for the guitar; he's also effortlessly able to take the lead with some sparkling melodies, especially on 'Nightfalls' and the opening to the majority of tracks. This leaves bassist Cadu Yamazaki and Herbert Loureiro on drums who equally play their part in the album's forward momentum, and together they produce a strong backbone that can be heard due to high-quality post-production.

'New Horizons' builds upon the foundations that were laid with the 2017 release of their first full-length album 'Flying High' and their 2016 EP. In all honesty, it will probably gain them a lot more fans closer to home than in Europe where listeners prefer a more industrial sound in this genre.

Remember the name Adellaide – I have a feeling that we may be hearing a lot more from them in the future!

Pete Arnett