a l b u m r e v i e w s


ABSOLUTLE ZERO
NEVER SURRENDER
AOR Heaven / Point Music 10161
Produced by: Jim Odom, Marc Engeran
Released: OUT / Website
Closest Relative: Survivor, Rokbox
GENRE: AOR
OVERALL: 76%

  1. Never Surrender
  2. Make Believe
  3. Jaimee
  4. Caught In The Fire
  5. Out Of Time
  6. Should Have Known Better
  7. Stranded
  8. Patiently
  9. One Lifetime

Absolute Zero is another lost gem of an album that has been unearthed by AOR Heaven in conjunction with Blue World Records.
You may be familiar already with keyboard player Randy Settoon and vocalist Marc Engeran who produced the excellent Rokbox CD last year. This is their 1991 project. Also notable are band members Jim Odom and David Peters of Le Roux.
What we have here is a straight-ahead rock album, with slices of pure AOR. The sound is a little hollow in places, nothing that a larger budget at the time of recording wouldn't have fixed.
More importantly, I really like the songs. The opening track is far from the strongest, it gets better ever track. Make Believe is a great song for continuing melodic hooks and Jaimee is a great Survivor-ish AOR anthem that could have made any 80's rock n roll soundtrack.
The rockier Stranded is also very good, as is the closing mid temp AOR number One Lifetime.
There's a few influences over these guy's sound. Some early Survivor, a little Journey and some Ted Poley-ish vocals from Marc Engeran.
BOTTOM LINE: It's not an all time classic, nor ground breaking music. But rather another good collection of songs from a period when the band could consider themselves unlucky not to get a bigger break.
Many AOR collectors love to fill in the gaps with releases like this, which is why they are so worthwhile.
PRODUCTION: 65% SONGS: 80% VIBE: 75%ATTITUDE: 75%
ESSENTIAL FOR: Fans of classic AOR and unreleased gems plus Rokbox fans.

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