TEN: Something Wicked This Way Comes (MELODIC HARD ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Less than a year after the release of "Here Be Monsters", Gary Hughes, at the head of his band Ten, offers us his little brother, a "Something Wicked This Way Comes" which is a pair with its predecessor. Indeed, the two opuses were written at the same time, as during the beginnings of the Englishmen in 1996 when their eponymous record and "The Name Of The Rose" were released.

Before evoking the musical content of this sixteenth album of the combo, it is interesting to look at its title and the lyrics declaimed in its intro. "Something Wicked This Way Comes" ("The Darkness Fair") is certainly a well-known novel by Ray Bradbury, but it is by listening to the monologue of the creature who launches the hostilities that we understand that it is especially referred here to an extract of "Macbeth" by Shakespeare, a passage where the arrival of a monster is announced. The wink to the brother opus of 2022 is thus an obvious one, as the one to notice that the members of the group remain the same.

Ten's new score is generous: one hour of melodies, as usual, full of romanticism and emphasis. Gary Hughes is a stubborn man, he has remained faithful to his initial impulses for more than a quarter of a century. Against all odds, in defiance of the stylistic fashions that have succeeded one another, it brings out each time his old recipes to serve us his classy, soothing, melodic Hard Rock, imbued with a certain lyricism, and for the time being intoxicating. To appreciate Ten, it is obvious that you must not be refractory to the refined sounds and the suave voices often in multilayer mode.

Once again it is complicated to highlight some tracks but we can quote 'The Fire And The Rain' is quite a melodic hard rock hit with its delicate piano intro and its chorus that makes you want to try a waltz alone. As for the guitar strings on 'The Greatest Show On Earth', they must be coated with crystal as the notes they produce sparkle to the ears. The melodies of 'The Tidal Wave' and the delicate piano that accompanies them are also a highlight of this record, as is the driving motif of the eponymous track.

This is the third successful album in a row for Ten. Let's thank Gary Hughes for keeping the faith for so long and still offering us a bit of sweetness in our world of brutes. - Official website

TEN

SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES

FRONTIERS RECORDS

MELODIC HARD ROCK