BACK " REVIEW"
THE VAL ‘BACK’ (SOUNDARELLA RECORDS/SPAIN IMPORT/TSM PROMOTIONS) 
And here we have a little surprise from Madrid, Spain in the shape of a great female fronted pure AOR release of a band called THE VAL. Formed only recently, in 2010, THE VAL is a band formed around a fantastic female singer called GABRIELLE DE VAL, who sounds like a mix between a laid-back ANN WILSON from the 1970s, LANA LANE and KAREN CARPENTER. Although Spain brought us some nice AOR/Melodic Rock albums in the past, it has been a little quiet lately until now, but this THE VAL is sounding very impressive. Thanks to the lovely vocalwork of Gabrielle and the hit potential catchy picture-perfect female fronted AOR/Poprock material on their debut ‘Back’, this band can easily compete with their legendary hometown female fronted AOR band NEXX. The sound is a little light here and there, very late 1980s orientated and also reminding a lot of T’PAU, CONNIE SCOTT, TWO PIECE PUZZLE, COASTLINE and ANGELA AND THE RUDE (anyone remember them???) during the start of the album, so a little more leaning towards Poprock, but with so many catchy AOR melodies and beautiful vocalwork, this THE VAL will easily find it’s way to the AOR fans out there! One of the absolute highlights is the excellent pure early 1980s AOR rocker “Pay (for the lonely nights)” that sounds a bit like early 80s HEART meets TANTRUM meets TORONTO, including dut-dut keys, lovely chorus and a fantastic guitarsolo. 12 tracks are included and not a single one is a filler, so fans of mentioned acts need to check out this release a.s.a.p. Thanks to the mastering of JOE GASTWIRT (of GRATEFUL DEAD, JIMI HENDRIX, TOM PETTY, YES, CSNY fame) in California, the overall sound is of a very high level and sometimes it gives you the feeling you are listening to something that was created in the good ole USA 30 years ago, but it really is something new from the beautiful city of Madrid in Spain. MUST-HAVE for any fan of female fronted AOR! More at: www.theval.es
(Points: 8.6 out of 10)
LINK :http://www.angelfire.com/planet/strutter/HOTNEWREVIEWS191.htm#theval
