Dennis may be known to some of you as the second keyboard player and singer in the mighty Toto, a band I first became aware of not long after they released their debut a million years ago. This is his second solo album, and while he is a multi-instrumentalist and singer, somewhat unsurprisingly there are a host of very well-known names involved including the likes of Steve Lukather, Joseph Williams, Ron Bumblefoot Thal, Marco Minnemann and Steve Bonino. In addition, it was mixed by Steve Lukather’s son Trev and was mastered by Bumblefoot.
As one might expect, this is very melodic hard rock and Atlas is a very fine singer indeed, and when he kicks into “Violent Power” I was quickly very impressed and was looking forward to hearing an excellent album, but sadly that is not what got. Songs like “Games” are a cross between a demo and a finished item, and I cannot make my mind up if it would be decent if it had moved away from the demo feel or if there was no hope for it whatsoever while “Instincts”, which follows, is similar in many ways in that it just doesn’t feel finished. That he can sing and is a great musician, which has brought in some greats to assist him, is never in doubt but the main issue is that many of the songs are just not good enough to be rescued by the performance. The mixing and mastering is polished, but I wonder how much input Lukather and Thal had with the arrangements and recording itself, as at times this feels very much like an album where there were no outside ears providing advice.
The result is a very inconsistent AOR album which undoubtedly has some highlights, but for me there are too many downsides for me to return to it often.
Rating: 6/10
Links:
https://dennisatlas.com/