Review ENEMY EYES ‘History’s Hand’

Johnny Gioeli is no stranger to gritty hard rock and powerful metal. The Brooklyn-based singer stepped into the spotlight in 1992 when he delivered an stunning debut album with Hardline. However, after a follow-up album to ‘Double Eclipse’ took ten years to complete, Gioeli turned his attention to new tasks and signed on with Germany’s flagship guitarist Axel Rudi Pell which seems like two musicians with a very similar musical vision have found each other, with ten studio albums to date being the output of this collaboration.

These days, however, Gioeli follows his very own path and releases ‘History’s Hand’, a kind of solo album under the banner of Enemy Eyes.

Gioeli’s musical development was influenced by bands like Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. In addition, Dio played an important role in the development of the singer, who also has a positive attitude towards more modern sounds of bands like Architcts. On ‘History’s Hand’ Gioeli has now summarized his entire musical bandwidth in eleven songs.

On this album, hard rock and heavy metal combine in a seamless manner, with the anthemic opener ‘Here We Are’ as an appetizer for the rest of the album. This song immediately finds its way into the mind of the listener and is rightly at the top of the track list.
It gets more metallic with the thundering ‘Peace and Glory’. Despite the faster tempo and crashing riffs, the song flirts with a catchy melody, which is manifested in Gioeli’s vocals.

The throbbing ‘The Chase’ is next which raises the heartbeat before an atmospheric highlight follows with ‘Preying on Your Weakness’, which, after a softer start, develops into a pounding anthem.

The latter song, but also ‘What I Believe’ start slowly and calmly, yet they are no ballads, because from the middle at the latest, the songs gain speed and heaviness, which is very pleasant and avoids cliches.

Towards the end it gets loud and fast again. Both, ‘Broken’ and ‘Rat Race’ are not stingy with a great intensity and combine the best of rock and metal.

Enemy Eyes, respectively Johnny Gioeli, has managed to create a very entertaining album. Already at the first time of listening you find the gateway to these eleven songs, which burn themselves deeper and deeper into the mind with every further session. ‘History’s Hand’ can be recommended and if you like Gioeli’s voice, you’ll get your money’s worth anyway.