Devils In Heaven – Rise
Label: AOR Heaven
Release date: 25th June, 2021
Website: www.aorheaven.com
Once more one of these forgotten pearls. Devils In Heaven from Australia, Tasmania to be precise, put out a few singles back in the day – at he end of the eighties actually – and made themselves well-known in the live-circuit but didn’t make it to a full album. The album contains many AOR and melodic treasures from different recording sessions. An EP by the name of “Liberation“ came out in 1993 and shortly afterwards, the band called it a day. As bonus cuts you get the two remastered tracks “Ships In The Night“ and “Ain’t A Wonder“ from 1990. Given the sheer quality of the song material that’s really a shame that they were not given a fair chance back in the day. The question why this superb band didn’t put out a single full album can’t be answered, though. Quality couldn’t really have been an issue at all. In addition to that, frontman David Withney lost his singing voice some time ago and drummer Phil Crothers passed away many moons ago. Therefore, “Rise“ is the ultimate legacy of this band. A great legacy, indeed! Hats off to AOR Heaven for finding many of those treasures recently. An I guess there’s plenty of them still to be discovered and to dig out, though…
8,5/10
Martin Stark
Tracklist:
1. Liberation 4:50
2. The Night Is Over 3:04
3. Take Me 4:17
4. Ain’t It A Wonder 4:26
5. Ships In The Night 4:17
6. Say A Prayer 3:40
7. Age (Simple Man) 2:26
8. All Night 4:04
9. Listen To My Heart 4:34
10. Dreams 4:50
11. Your Beating Heart 3:47
12. Heart, Mind & Soul 4:23
13. Ships In The Night (1990 version) 3:57
14. Ain’t It A Wonder (1990 version) 4:23