Review RAY OF LIGHT “Salute”

Ray Of Light has some roots that lead us back to the late 90’s / early 00’s when a German band called Frontline released several albums. With Stephan Kämmerer and Stephan Bayerlein, the line-up of Ray Of Light includes two guys from Frontline.

The new line-up also consists of Gregg Cromack on vocals and Jörg Wartmann on guitar. The 4-piece is passionate about melodic hard rock and AOR, which fans can now enjoy on the new album.

“Salute” is the title of the band’s first studio effort and with “City of Angels”, the band has already unveiled a lead single that gives a pretty good idea of what to expect from the album. It is a melody driven rock song that never gets really heavy, but also avoids the clichés by giving the guitar enough space.

Ray Of Light also have some heavier moments on their album, like the hard rocker “Falling to Pieces”, which has some Whitesnake parallels in the beginning. The next song is “Ray Of Light” and combines catchiness with rock power and a ballad is usually included on such an album too. In this case, however, the tear-jerking moment doesn’t exist, although the album contains some soulful parts with songs like “Fallin From Grace”, which is a more dynamic half-ballad that still contains some harder guitar sounds.

The good thing about the sound of Ray Of Light is that the guys recorded songs that are powerful and vibrant. There are no weak moments, which isn’t easy in a genre that has seen almost everything. “Salute” speaks to the heart and pleases the ears. With such a debut the band has built a solid foundation and let’s keep an eye on these guys.