Recent arrivals to Glory Daze are the German duo Echo, these guys play a style of modern Pop/AOR which resembles Sweden’s Coastland Ride and Bad Radiator, both covered here at GDM previously.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Echo
ALBUM: First Reflection
LABEL: Self Released
SERIAL: Bandcamp
YEAR: 2021
SPONSOR: Echo
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: 
LINEUP: Jan Dickmann – lead vocals (# 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10) * guitar, bass, drums (all # except 4 and 8) * backing vocals * Mathis Pollmann – lead vocals (# 4, 8) * drums (# 4, 8) * acoustic guitar (# 8) * backing vocals, percussion
Guest Musician: Georg Nebel – keyboards (# 3, 4, 5, 6, 10)
TRACK LISTING: 01 Desperate Love * 02 The Traveler * 03 Shot In The Heart * 04 Darkness To Go * 05 Into Your Eyes * 06 Never Easy * 07 Just A Dream * 08 A Look Inside * 09 Stay * 10 Goodbye
RATING: 
Background
Recent arrivals to Glory Daze are the German duo Echo. These guys are playing a style of modern Pop/AOR which resembles Sweden’s Coastland Ride and Bad Radiator, both bands extensively reviewed here at GDM.
Of the duo, Jan Dickmann also has a full time gig playing bass in the Deep Purple cover band Demon Eyes, a role he took on back in 2019.
The Songs
However, the Dortmund pair have created something different with Echo. It’s definitely on the AOR side of the fence as we discover along the way. It switches between rough and tumble one minute, to something smooth and melodic the next.
‘Desperate Love’ leads off as a big sounding melodic rocker, with walls of vocal chants providing grit and substance. ‘The Traveler’ is more of a story, whilst the thing I enjoy about this song is the 70’s styled chorus: ‘dah dah dut dah, he was a traveler..’.
‘Shot In The Heart’ is a bouncy number, featuring a piano based motif that holds the track together. It’s on this one I feel that the Coastland Ride comparison makes for a good fit. ‘Darkness To Go’ is a bit jekyll and Hyde in a musical sense, restraint on the verses, opening the pipes on the chorus, though the transition isn’t too Stark. It does shift around the compass for sure.
‘Into Your Eyes’ is a mid-tempo affair that starts off with abundant AOR melodies and maintains a steady roll throughout. ‘Never Easy’ on the other hand, borrows from the
Toto track ‘I Could Be Good For You’ (Toto IV). Once you hear those brass parps, you’ll recognise the similarity.
The next pairing of ‘Just A Dream’ and ‘A Look Inside’ both hover in that progressive rock/pop space, lush acoustic guitar and backing choir vocals providing some depth. Getting towards the end now, Echo punch the clock with an amped up guitar rocker ‘Stay’ while the glorious organ filled closer ‘Goodbye’ is another highlight, with a subtle trace of Bad Radiator in the grooves.
In Summary
If you’re online often, you can listen to Echo via Bandcamp, YouTube, Spotify or Apple Music. Definitely Jan and Mathis’ musical creation has legs, and seeing that I’m taking heavy metal off my diet for awhile, I’ll settle into some West Coast and AOR/pop like Echo, and cruise instead.
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Shot In The Heart
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