Fifth Note – ‘Here We Are’

(Frontiers Records)

It’s testament to the global appeal of Melodic Rock that a band like Fifth Note exist, hailing from north eastern India an area rich with its own cultural and local musical styles and genres. So, for a band like Fifth Note to produce songs with a strong Americanised sound and approach with no hints of regional influences just shows how popular and inspiring the genre can be worldwide. Fifth Note are born out of the ashes of a Christian themed band, none of that is obvious in the lyrics on ‘Here We Are’ but they do steer clear from anything about sex and drugs, focusing on clean and positive themes. To be honest a lot of Melodic Rock can be like that so I wouldn’t let that put you off.

The first Fifth Note song I heard was ‘Always Love You’ which totally blew me away and its straight forward Melodic Rock stance really appealed to me with its pompous keyboards and AOR chorus evoking similarities to the genre’s heights in the eighties. It is not clearly indictive of the rest of the album though which is far more progressive and heavier than this lead single would imply. Investigating this album will mean digging deeper as this album has a strong dreamlike or ethereal tone to it as opposed to the commercial Melodic Hard Rock of ‘Always Love You’.

It is an album I’ve enjoyed and there is very little I could criticise about it but these songs and their style don’t really resonate with me personally and I can’t see it been an album I return to much in the future. All the musicians involved impress me with their individual performances and creativity, they sound very accomplished and their experience certainly shines through.

The songs can be quite varied stylistically but mainly sit within a melodic progressive style and although I’m no authority on Dream Theater I hear elements of their ethereal style in these dreamlike compositions.

‘Here We Are’ is a strong album but not an instant smash hit, it does have some stand out tracks but I could see this hitting and missing with genre fans. It is certainly worth checking out by melodic rockers to see if it hits or misses with you. As there are some great moments which would be a shame for people to miss out on even if it will divide opinion.

7/10

Essential Track - 'Always Love You

Review by Woody