There aren’t many AOR/pomp bands out of Peru, let alone South America. The Revlin Project would an exception. Here is album number three.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Revlin Project
ALBUM: Beyond The Dreams
LABEL: Lions Pride Music
SERIAL: LPM044
YEAR: 2023
CD INFO: Discogs Info List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Peru
LINEUP: Nilver Pérez – keyboards, production * Renato Costa – lead and backing vocals (all tracks except 6 and 7)
Additional Musicians: Marc Quee – lead vocals (7) * Toni Amboajae – lead vocals (6)
Niko Delgado, Juanma García, Charly García, Ignacio Ruiz, J.P. Roxx, Cris García – guitars
Nick Hogg, Sam Delgado, Pedro García, Olgher Avila, Ignacio Ruiz, Ken Sandin, Rogelio Pitalua, Anderson Sherman, Joseph Urbano – bass
Gabriel Seri, Saulo Estopinian, Mauricio Maldonado – drums
Faty Kely – backing vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 Harder, Faster * 02 Fighters, Dreamers! * 03 The World Beyond Your Eyes * 04 Where Are You Now * 05 From This Moment On * 06 Led By Love * 07 The Poor Of The Earth Unite * 08 Doubts * 09 Beyond The Dreams * 10 This Love
RATING: 40/100
Revlin Project Background
There are not many AOR/pomp bands out of Peru, let alone South America, but the Revlin Project would be one of the few exceptions. The band made a good impression with their second album ‘Trascender’ back in 2021, and here they return with their third effort.
Revlin Project are now the duo of Nilver Perez and Renato Costa, the remaining musicians guesting from around the world. Much like the debut, the instrumentation is pretty good. However the vocals from Renato drags the listenability down several notches.
I know it’s difficult to find vocalists with the quality of a Perry, Soto, Free, Safsund, Overland or a Jamison. But when the music is good quality, a singer who excels in the melodic rock/AOR arena is a must. Also, because there are so many guitar players involved, the album’s inability to gel is a deterrent.
The Songs
There were just a handful of songs where subtlety was apparent. But mostly, the guitarists went way past their mission brief. It looked like they had permission to riff the heck out of these songs and to shred the solos unmercifully. Two tracks got close to ballad territory but eventually missed the turn off.
Despite Nilver Perez providing expansive keyboard layers, it was spoiled by the vocal and the shoot to kill guitar work. I couldn’t really single out a decent track to highlight. Not even the tracks which featured outside Spanish singer Toni Amboajae and Argentinian/Swedish singer Marc Quee could save things.
In Summary
As much as I enjoyed the previous album ‘Trascender’, this album was a difficult listen. My only hope is that Nilver can return to a proper band situation. The multiple guests thing didn’t quite hit the mark this time around.
Revlin Project on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
