Royal Hunt – Show Me How To Live (2011)
Royal Hunt is back with their eleventh long player Show Me How To Live. Show Me How to Live features the return of D.C. Cooper (Silent Force) on vocals. DC Cooper’s parting from Royal Hunt was not an amicable move back in the late 90’s, so I am glad the gentleman in Royal Hunt could mend the fences. D.C. Cooper has an outstanding voice, and after giving Show Me How To Live a few spins, I can clearly say, it sounds like he never left.
Don’t misunderstand my excitement with D.C. Cooper returning to Royal Hunt. I thought Mark Boals and John West both did a great job singing for this band. I liked Royal Hunt’s last album X a lot. I don’t know what it is, but there seems to be magic when André Andersen and D.C. Cooper record together.
Show Me How To Live is a tight record packed with melodic, and progressive edged tunes that are a pure pleasure to listen to.
The album starts off with a powerful rocker “One More Day” which is also the main chorus of the song. With Jonas Larsen’s excellent guitar work, and the catchy lyrics, I have found this song to be extremely infectious.
“Another Man Down” (See video below) is a duet with Michelle Raitzin. Raitzin’s vocals are a very good match for D.C. Cooper.
Every time I play “Hard Rain’s Coming” I want to hit repeat. Not only is this one of the best songs on Show Me How To Live, it may also be one of Royal Hunt’s best.
The album’s title track “Show Me How To Live” is a ten minute melodic monster. The musicianship is so incredible you forget that you are listening a song this long.
With only seven songs, I wish Show Me How To Live had a few more tunes, but with 42 minutes of music that is THIS good, I am still quite satisfied.
Royal Hunt fans, do yourself a favor and pick this CD up. You won’t be disappointed!
Rating:
Out of 10
Track Listing:
01. One More Day
02. Another Man Down
03. An Empty Shell
04. Hard Rain’s Coming
05. Half Past Loneliness
06. Show Me How To Live
07. Angel’s Gone
Royal Hunt is:
André Andersen – keyboards
D.C. Cooper – vocals
Allan Sørensen – drums
Andreas Passmark – bass
Jonas Larsen – guitars
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For over 15 years Royal Hunt has been my favorite band. I love a lot of bands in several genre, but Royal Hunt has remained on top. Since the early 70s I have always loved the sound of Rock/Metal that had the sound of a orchestra mixed in with it. Bands like Kansas, ELO, maybe a little Yes or Pink Floyd to some extent. All of which eventually turned me onto bands like Nightwish, Within Temptation, Kamelot ect, ect. I just think the sound is so “Epic”.
Picking a favorite album is hard. John West, D.C., Mark Boals, Henrik Brockmann (least favorite) Are all fantastic singers. And have each brought their own sound to make the band tight and the music all flow together. I think the days with West and D.C. had a more Symphonic sound and when Brockmann was there they were closer to hard rock than Metal. But Boals brought out both a symphonic and metal sound together. IMO anyway.
So as much as I do love the early days Im going to say Along with Show Me How To Live, Collision Course (Paradox II) and “X” are my favorites. For me they just Rock more. \m/ \m/