4 out of 5 Stars!

From Italy, Perfect View swept onto the scene back in 2010 with the impressive Hold Your Dreams, a terrific AOR/Hard Rock release that would fit nicely in one’s music catalogue amidst other bands such as Journey, FM, Giuffria, Bad Habit, Work of Art, Valentine, and Shy. And the band’s powerful, wide-ranging vocalist, Massimiliano Ordine, comes across as a commendable combination between Lou Nadeau (Wrabit) and the exceptional Fergie Frederickson (Trillion/LeRoux/Toto/etc.)

Here, on rocking tunes such as “One More Time,” “Run,” “Showtime,” “A Better Place,” “Speed Demon,” and “Believe,” not to mention the lush ballads “A Reason To Fight,” “Where’s the Love,” and the title track, layered and glorious “pomp-ilicious” keyboards (provided by Pier Mazzini) and sprightly guitar riffs and solos (courtesy of Francesco Cataldo) rule the day, while the tight rhythm section of bassist Cristian Guerzoni and drummer Luca Ferraresi keep things in line. And, of course, each of the dozen tracks features a ton of gigantic harmony vocals, along with Ordine’s catchy, hummable melodies that could easily make Perfect View the envy of any aspiring artist in the AOR genre, and perhaps even among the majority of established acts as well. To top things off, all the material is wrapped up in a high-quality production package that’s appropriate for this type of grand and well-written material.

Therefore, fans of the aforementioned AOR/Hard Rock bands should find this album entertaining, as well as the group’s equally impressive sophomore effort, Red Moon Rising, that dropped in 2014. In my opinion, Perfect View is, without a doubt, one of the most promising AOR/Hard Rock acts of the new century—perhaps not “perfect” just yet, but certainly possessing the musicianship and the songwriting chops to one day achieve that goal.

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