‘Eye of the Storm’ was the second album from Brazen Abbot. Released originally in 1996 on the Japanese label Zero/JVC and shortly after by the German label USG Records, it has now been reissued by Frontiers. Originally conceived as a studio project by Bulgarian guitarist, producer, and songwriter Nikolo Kotzev, Brazen Abbot became known for its use of multiple singers on the same album. The line-up on this release was Europe band members Ian Haugland (drums), John Levén (bass) and Mic Michaeli (Hammond), with the singers being Joe Lynn Turner (four songs), Thomas Vikström (two) and Göran Edman (four).

I was fortunate enough to see JLT front Rainbow back in the early Eighties, and there is no doubt that Kotzev had that band in mind when he wrote the material which JLT sings on, as one could easily imagine this coming from the same band who have us ‘Straight Between The Eyes’, and while both Göran and Thomas are fine singers, they don’t have the same bite and power and the material they sing on is not as interesting. The result is an album which feels quite fragmented, and even though both JLT and Göran sang for Malmsteen at different times they are very different in their approach, which is probably while Kotzev gave them different types of songs to perform. Overall this is a melodic hard rock album which must have sounded quite out of time post grunge, so it is probably safe to say it has aged well, but it is not essential.

Rating: 6/10

Links:
https://www.frontiers.it/