Perhaps in hindsight it was remiss of me to dismiss this Giant album from a year ago, because this is pretty good!
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Giant
ALBUM: Shifting Time
LABEL: Frontiers SRL
SERIAL: FRCD 1178
YEAR: 2022
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Kent Hilli – vocals * John Roth – guitars * Mike Brignardello – bass * David Huff – drums
Additional Musicians: Dann Huff – lead guitar (#3) * Alessandro Del Vecchio – keyboards, backing vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 Shifting Time * 02 Let Our Love Win * 03 Never Die Young * 04 Don’t Say A Word * 05 My Breath Away * 06 Highway Of Love * 07 It’s Not Over * 08 The Price Of Love * 09 Standing Tall * 10 Anna Lee * 11 Don’t Wanna Lose You * 12 I Walk Alone
RATING:80/100
Background
Perhaps in hindsight it was remiss of me to dismiss this Giant album from a year ago, because this is pretty good! Looking back now, January 2022 wasn’t a good time frame for me as I was solely focused on leaving Australia and thus preoccupied with the covid nonsense. Still I must have been a snob to avoid this super release when out came out on Jann 22nd.
This is what I’ve learned since. This version of Giant are doing their best to stay true to the legacy sound created by Dann Huff and Alan Pasqua, even if the synth and organ backdrop is not there to the same level anymore. John Roth can faithfully reproduce Dann’s six string magic, while the ace in the hole is Swedish star Kent Hilli, the newly minted Giant vocalist who sounds great here.
The Songs
Swirling synths and ambient guitar are the two focal points on the short intro to ‘Shifting Time’ before things kick into high gear on second up ‘Let Our Love Win’ a punchy number with some deadly lead guitar from Roth. ‘Never Die Young’ is Giant’s first feature track with a video made for it (see below) which also sees Dann Huff making an appearance on lead guitar. Good to see he’s still involved.
‘Don’t Say A Word’ is a rollicking track aided by a pimping chorus, while ‘My Breath Away’ has a familiar sound to it, in fact it could’ve come from the Perfect Plan songbook. Just an observation. Giant head down a blues path with ‘Highway Of Love’ though it’s stlll heavy handed. The chorus is a doppelganger of the song ‘We All Die Young’ from the ‘Rock Star’ movie featuring Mark Wahlberg.
‘It’s Not Over’ is the first ballad and hits the right spot and provides a rest area for the listeners to park up for a bit. ‘The Price Of Love’ also operates in a slower tempo though its not a ballad. ‘Standing Tall’ is another track that holds true to the Giant legacy, you hear this in the guitar lines used and the overall arrangement. ‘Anna Lee’ is the second ballad and us quite warm sounding. ‘Don’t Wanna Lose You’ tends to ebb and flow without quite rocking out, the closer ‘I Walk Alone’ is decent enough but it sounds like any number of good bands could br playing this. It’s very generic.
In Summary
This review is a little late, but welcome nonetheless. This version of Giant has some real legs looking forward to the future. But for then to gain some real traction they should revisit some of the legacy material from the first two albums and have a think as to why that stuff was so special. Returning to an American centric sound rather than rely on European elements would be a good start. Let us hope this is the start of a regular schedule of output from one of our favourite bands of the AOR and melodic hard rock genres.
Video
Never Die Young
