Californians Artica had all the hallmarks of an archetypal melodic rock band, with a sound somewhere between Journey and Survivor. No kidding.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Artica
ALBUM: As It Should Be
LABEL: Zero Corp (Japan)
SERIAL: XRCN-1230
YEAR: 1995
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: John David Martin – vocals * Mark Adrian – guitars * Robby Moore – keyboards * Roger Fiets – bass * Chuck Baker – drums, percussion
TRACK LISTING: 01 Fantasy * 02 It’s Over * 03 Your’e Still On Your Own * 04 One Night * 05 Hold On * 06 Since Loving You * 07 Take Me All The Way * 08 Girl Of My Dreams * 09 (Your Love) Will Carry Me Home * 10 Let It Show
WEBLINKS: NA
Background
One of the ‘finds’ of 1995 were this five piece Californian band called Artica. These guys had all the hallmarks of an archetypal melodic rock band, with a sound somewhere between Journey and Survivor. No kidding.
Now, I’ve seen people rave on about new artists/acts who sound like a cross between the two aforementioned bands, and from where I sat, they sounded nothing of the sort, until Artica turned up that is. This is an album brimming with some quality, where everything comes together as a complete package.
Considering 1995 wasn’t that great a year in melodic rock (The Storm and Tour De Force being exceptions), this album stands out like a bright light on the horizon. The guitars and keyboards flow together cohesively, and when they change tempo and tack from slow to faster paced, the delivery and impact are the same .. maximum!
The Songs
The opening strands of ‘Fantasy’ will give you a taster of where their music will take you for the next 40 minutes or so. There’s no let up really, with ‘Its Over’, ‘You’re Still On Your Own’, ‘Hold On’, ‘Take Me All The Way’ and ‘Girl Of My Dreams’ all being classic examples of the melodic rock genre.
Singer John David Martin has a voice which has inflections of Steve Augeri whilst the keyboard work of Robby Moore holds the whole thing together, with a combination of layers, counter melodies and veritable ‘punch’ at the right moments. As a consequence, the AOR scribes put this album right at the top of the heap for 1995. Wasn’t hard really.
In Summary
As an aside, Artica appeared to have not made any progress as a big name act, not helped by the fact that their label Zero Corporation folded. In their wisdom, they changed their name to Line Of Fire and decided to become a Journey cover band (strewth!), before finally settling down again with the moniker Netwerk 9.
Some of their material was found previously on the older (and more successful site that was..) MP3.COM. As a celebration and recognition of their efforts, this album saw a well deserved re-release on the UK label Escape Music during 2005 albeit with a different album cover.
Artica on Video
It’s Over
Take Me All The Way
Hold On
