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BURNING KINGDOM
Simplified

Avispa (2013)
Rating: 8/10

Those of you familiar with late 80s and early 90s melodic metal may recall a criminally underrated New York City band called Tyketto who were fronted by Danny Vaughn. Well, now he’s the new lead vocalist for international melodic hard rock band Burning Kingdom who has just released their third opus via Avispa Records.

Vaughn is backed by Spanish guitarist and Burning Kingdom founder Manuel Seoane, along with the Swedish duo of bassist Tobbe TosiGalen (Carnival Sun / Erottika) and drummer Johnny Benson (Crazy Lixx / Bai Bang), and Danish keyboardist Mikkel Henderson (Fate).

All 11 tracks on offer were written by Vaughn and Seoane so it’s no surprise that this is a polished, driving and catchy platter featuring upbeat melodies, tight musicianship and Danny Vaughn’s exceptional leadership. Promotion for the record began with the second track, ‘Watching As It Burns’, which has a feel of Kiss with that big, soaring hook of a chorus.

But where the album really comes into its own is with the glorious stomp of ‘The One That Almost Got Away’, which features a bubbly hook as Vaughn croons over a simple yet breezy guitar and solid drum backbone. As one would expect with such exceptional talents, Burning Kingdom know how to write a huge, catchy chorus, and ‘The One That Almost Got Away’ boasts just that.

There’s nothing overtly complicated about the sound or the structure of the songs; just a dose of good harmonious rock with occasional 80s-inspired keyboard effects. However, it’s not all lightweight pomp. ‘Killing Time’, despite its breezy intro, offers more weight musically and lyrically as Vaughn adopts a darker edge to his voice over a menacing riff. But for the most part this is a melodic rock album that offers the shuffling glory of ‘Falling Down’, the sprightly drive of ‘From On High’ and the keyboard-driven title track which features the immortal line of, “Don’t want to hear from all those Facebook crazies, just wanna turn you on and keep you that way”.

Simplified is a harmless melodic rock album that thankfully relies more on the class rather than the cheese, and with Danny Vaughn at the helm the band couldn’t exactly go wrong. And for an accomplished, breezy platform to float from, Burning Kingdom’s new opus is ideal for take-off.

Neil Arnold

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