Year : 2026 (Andromeda Relix Records Edition)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock , AOR , Melodic Heavy Metal
Country : Italy
Audio : 320 kbps + scans
Size : 221 mb
Bio:
Elektradrive is one of the most significant Hard Rock - A.O.R. bands to emerge from Italy.At the very start, in 1983, the name of the band was Overdrive and they had a four-piece line up without keyboards; after one year they added the keyboards and became Elektradrive.Elektradrive's debut single 'Let it Survive' was released on 1984 by Smoko Records. Elektradrive were featured, in the same year on the compilation 'HM Eruption' with the song 'Lord of the Rings', and in the compilation 'Metallo Italia' with 'Winner' the year after. In 1985 the band produced a videoclip for 'Winner'.Elektradrive's debut full length album, 'Over The Space' was released in 1986 via Discotto Records followed by a three months national tour.The most famous - and widely appreciated - album by Elektradrive, 'Due', was released in 1989 via Minotauro. 'Due' received excellent feedback from the international press, including 5K's on Kerrang Magazine from Dave Reynolds (at the same time, Whitesnake's Slip of the Tongue received 3K's.In the same year Elektradrive played with Manowar at Palasport Torino. An intensive international tour followed.Elektradrive's third album 'Big City' was released by Dracma Records in 1993. 'Big City' was reviewed by many as album of the month.In 1994 'Due' and 'Big City' were distributed in Japan by EMI/Toshiba and in Europe by Long Island Records.After almost ten years of silence, in 2004, Elektradrive start writing songs for a new album: the line up now back to the four original members but without keyboards.Elektradrive's great new album is 'Living 4', masterpiece that took the band three years of hard work for the writing and recording process.'Living 4' is a mature concept album of modern-classy and bluesy-AOR with committed lyrics about environment, corporations, water scarcity and general concerns on the state of our planet.The album was released early in 2009 and gained rave reviews in Italian and European music magazines.The band is now touring, with gigs in the most important Italian cities, and played some festivals with Bonfire.
Album:
Any album that has a wildcat shredding guitar on the cover has my vote. My interest in Elektradrive goes a bit deeper than cat worship though. In 2009 we reviewed the band’s last studio outing ‘Living 4′ commenting “This is a class act and a simply wonderful sounding album that inspires, both on a musical and on an emotional level.” We produced an album trail and subsequently featured them in our ‘Albums that time forgot’ series.The band have more recently consolidated reissues of the earlier material (that goes back to 1986) whilst celebrating their 40th anniversary with a double live album, recorded 2023/2024.As you would expect the live shows showcased a broad sweep of their repertoire over four decades and the album emphasises how the band’s sound matured over the same period. It’s not disrespectful to say that many of these tunes could have provided background to some of those late-eighties cop movies.Openers ‘Secret Of The Holy Grave’ and ‘Lord Of The Rings’ is fairly rudimentary hard rock inspired by Michael Schenker and UFO with the latter occasionally evoking early Magnum. Both appear on the band’s 1986 debut ‘…Over The Space’ together with ‘Time Machine’.Eugenio Manassero’s synth keys provide retro lift to ‘The Riot Of The Young Guns’ from 1993′s ‘Big City’ and first single B-side ‘Brainstorm’ features Simone Falovo’s typically engaging guitar work.Falovo, Alex Moro (drums) and vocalist Elio Maugeri remain from the original band but by the second album (‘Due’, 1989) the current line-up was in place, with Manassero and Stefano Turolla (bass). (Although the keyboard player was missing on ‘Living 4′).Amongst the highlights ‘Lucille’ (Big City, 1993) could almost be the band’s ‘Carrie’ (Europe) with an always powerful vocal from Maugeri. ‘Still Remember’, from that same album, is also impressive with Falovo allowed his full head of steam.On Disc 2, two tracks are included originally bonuses on the Big City reissue in 2012, ‘Fly High (Hero)’ and ‘Snake 92′ whilst rallying with several key pieces from ‘Due’, their 1989 album that garnered plaudits from the UK hard rock press.I expected the tracks from ‘Living 4′ to move things up a notch with ‘Dirty War Of Bloody Angels’ ‘Evil Empire’ and ‘Pain’ all outstanding. In fact the band could have played the whole of that album for a truly wider audience appeal (maybe for the 20th anniversary in 2029?!).In truth most of this will appeal to hardcore fans who have followed the band since the 1980s/early 1990s and will no doubt hit the mark in their homeland. However it should make others investigate the earlier albums which stand unique in Italian rock music history, and more than ever I have to say to mainman Simone “where’s the new album?” We are waiting!
Line-Up:
Elio Maugeri - Vocals
Simone Falovo - Guitar
Stefano Turolla - Bass
Alex Jorio - Drums
Eugenio Manassero - Keyboards
Production:
Distributed By – Ma.Ra.Cash Records
Tracklist:
CD1:
01. Take Off
02. Secret Of The Holy Grave
03. Lord Of The Rings
04. The Riot Of The Young Guns
05. Brainstorm
06. Dirty War Of Bloody Angels
07. Lucille
08. Time Machine
09. Still Remember
10. Evil Empire
CD2:
01. Prelude To A Hero
02. Fly High (Hero)
03. Snake 92
04. Big City
05. Pain
06. Magic Lamp
07. St. Valentine's Day
08. A Man That Got No Heart
09. Back On The Road
10. Escape From The Rock
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
