ALBUM REVIEW: III – CoreLeoni
With Eurovision just this past weekend, it seems apt to have a former representative offer new music. Fronted by Eugent Bushpepa, hard rock group CORELEONI release their third album, III, this Friday. Founded by GOTTHARD’s Leo Leoni (guitars) in 2018, CORELEONI follow up 2019’s II with 10 brand new tracks with a cover to close. If fans are looking for more material, the CD-digipack and boxset include an extra four reimagined GOTTHARD tracks. This takes a 42-minute core album and extends it to an intimidating 62-minute runtime.
Beginning the marathon, Let Life Begin Tonight showcases Bushpepa’s blues-infused vocal which sits effortlessly atop Leoni and Jgor Gianola’s bouncy riffs which refuse to settle. While it’s on the slower side for an opener, the track wastes little time in setting the tone. Not only does this promise to be a good listen but it’s also going to strike an emotional chord or two. “We can’t go on fading away” Bushpepa broods with a luscious lower harmony sinking just below the radar. For a track featuring a guitar virtuoso, the solo here is understated and short lived. More on that to come.
If a band is classed as classic or hard rock, it’s highly likely there are going to be one or two songs of a sexual nature. Stereotypical that may be but true nonetheless. CORELEONI prove themselves no exception as Purple Dynamite and Guilty Under Pressure sit at two very different ends of the seduction spectrum. “You take me higher than a kite” Bushpepa declares to his intended with a vocal take that registers a little too high when compared with the introductory bass riff. With her “marmalade eyes” this Purple Dynamite takes a second to explode, only doing so in the anthemic choruses. Leoni’s solo comes in toward the end to give the “poison suicide” extra flavour but is served up a little too late.
On the other side, Guilty Under Pressure’s story of extramarital affairs by both Daddy and Mama feels Hard Rock 101. “Guilty pleasure becomes guilty under pressure” brags the chorus in a tone similar to Vince Neil circa Dr. Feelgood (1989). Tales of secret lovers and “banging on the floor” sail by in easy listening fashion until a solo catches our attention for the wrong reasons. Slower yet higher in tone, this guitar work neither adds nor takes away from the track. It simply exists.
When CORELEONI fire on all cylinders, their material is effortless and oozes craftsmanship. Though two completely different songs in terms of tone and setting, Sometimes and Like It Or Not are perfect first half examples. Sometimes’ song structure is simply sublime until a later track blows it out of the water. Perfectly placed vocal harmonies cut like a hot knife through butter as we ride CORELEONI’s emotional rollercoaster. While we have our lighters in the air for Sometimes, Like It Or Not has us wanting to be that “self-made man that can cast a spell”. The swing within the riffs is undeniable as they hook into the pleasure-seeking parts of our brain. Our amygdala dims with the screech-laden choruses but with vocal hooks such as “seduce me/ corrupt me”, our simple minds can overlook that hiccup.
What it can’t overlook however is when a song feels flat. The electronica opening of Greetings From Russia feels off even though it’s replaced with a tasty riff. It’s all downhill from there though as the vocals feel soulless and drown inside the drum placement in the mix. While we’re treated to another Leoni solo, this too feels monochromatic. These Greetings From Russia float by almost unobserved.
Listener fatigue begins to set in by the time we reach Would You Love Me. The meaty instrumental is gutsy in nature but we find ourselves checking the run-time. “Would you hate to be the only one that shakes my tree” is a clever way of seeking validation from the person we’re “banging on the floor” to slow and salacious riffs. Had this been included earlier in the track list, Would You Love Me wouldn’t be so underrated. Instead what we have is a hidden gem for anyone willing to go searching. Which brings us to the penultimate track of the core album and what a track it is. “I cry your name into the cold wind” holds the powerhouse nature of Deep In My Soul. Bushpepa’s bluesy soul is sensational. “I sing you a song of sadness” washes over us like that warm flood before tears escape our eyes. With nothing but vocals, organ-like synths, and the odd percussive shimmer, Deep In My Soul reaches inside us and rips out our still-beating heart. Had the record ended there, this could have been contender for the best closing track of all time.
It doesn’t though so it isn’t. The core album closes with a cover of THE ROLLING STONES’ Jumpin’ Jack Flash. The deeper, more gravelly vocals come as surprise but the song is horribly misplaced within the track list. Ending the album on a cover will always be a point of conversation among fans. In this instance it feels unnecessary. Working into the last 20 minutes of runtime, the fatigue has well and truly set in. Perhaps if the four cover versions which make up the bonus portion had been from different bands it wouldn’t feel like so much of a slog. However with all four being GOTTHARD “forgotten classics” we wonder if this was an altogether beneficial decision for the record.
There is certainly an album’s worth of material within III. We would argue there is more than one album in here. To put it lightly, III suffers from kitchen sink syndrome. There are some good quality songs in here. Some of it is more than worth revisiting and should be a gateway into CORELEONI’s previous material. That said, there are some things that need sifting through before getting to the good stuff. Perhaps this is a band still finding its feet as they are only on album three of their life cycle. Have they found solid footing here? It’s still spongy underfoot but terra firma isn’t that far off.
Rating: 6/10
III is set for release on May 20th via Atomic Fire Records.
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