What is this an XYZ resurgence or something?

I swear the first tune sounds just like something they did-when was it, ten, eleven years ago?

Masquerade has this distinct melodic sing along hard rock style and magnetic groove down to a science here-they're good at it but I can't help but think they sound like someone else-maybe many others that either didn't chart or made like last year's Giants' offense-three and out, if they made it that far!

"A Me and an I" opens the gig and is not very impressive but it's where I came across the flashes of XYZ and that whole Southern California Glam Rock trendiness back in the day.

Anything but fashion-crazed however, Masquerade indeed began life back in the late '80s but originate about as far from So. Cal as you can get-Sweden and the land of those cold-hearted Black Metal practitioners… so what's with letting a little light shine through then?

The tunes are straight and rather simple and again nod directly at those second tier acts like the Saigon Kick's or Babylon A.D. types…

I'm getting plenty of Coverdale coming across in the high-range vocal department as well but nothing at all like Whitesnake.

There's a strong sense of control within the songs however and titles like "Freedom," "Back on Earth," and the title cut (they really broke out the pedals for this one!) in spite of sounding like rehashes of earlier bands do have a stand out quality that's refreshing to hear-catchy, compact and strong if often repetitive and sometimes obviously routed… but then along comes as "Infinite Am I" which sounds nothing like the above and in fact quite turbulent and offsetting-so they judiciously lack in that predictable quality that made many past acts extinguishable after 20% of the listen..

Combine the early style of that tail end '80s hard rock explosion as it were with more earthy tones and less pomp, but still with a big chorus and you get some of what Masquerade's about.

Released by Metal Blade Records GmbH, P.O. Box 1332, 73054 Eislingen, Germany.
Metal Blade Records Inc, 2828 Cochran St. Suite 302, Simi Valley,
CA 93065-2793, USA
Website : http://metalblade.iuma.com/
Email : mtlbldrcds@aol.com

Review by Vinnie Apicella [va85@columbia.edu]