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Never change a winning team... And so Lana Lane and her husband Erik Norlander worked again with Peer Verschuren on guitars and Ernst van Ee on drums. Since 1995 Lana Lane is releasing albums very frequently including some compilations and covers albums. With Red Planet Boulevard she releases the follow-up of Lady Macbeth - meanwhile she released Gemini, a covers album. Her music can be described as symphonic hard rock, but don't expect bombastic sounds!
The opening track is called Into The Fire and is a straight forward rocker with heavy guitars and some symphonic sounds, but it's Lana's voice which add the certain something. Her phrasing sometimes has reminiscences to Ronnie James Dio... With the following The Frozen Sea they change the sound a bit... Riff-driven and with an aggressive edge first, then slow and a bit melancholy - just to switch back. A stomping heavy rock is Capture The Sun which get classy due to Lana's vocals. The 70's inspired keyboard part in the middle gives it a slightly retro sound... It sounds like a Hammond organ... In my opinion they should have shortened the songs a bit as it's more then 7 minutes long and towards the end they lost me. Jessica is a powerful ballad and again you find some retro prog sequences. The beautiful vocal line is what makes the song stick out, but it could be a bit more catchy... With Stepford, USA they speed up and get heavy again. This song will haunt you after a few spins. Some modern sounds and some slightly progressive patters make Shine special - and some wafting guitar parts in combination with symphonic elements - this song Shine... After some strong tunes Lazy Summer Day can stand its ground... A bit too inexpressively. Really touching is No Tears Left which starts balladesque, but then explodes into a heavy rocker. The slower parts are enchanting and drag you into the world of Lana Lane. One of the highlights of Red Planet Boulevard! At Save The World Lana's love for Ann Wilson and Heart is audible, but she combines her sound with Heart. More 70's prog rock influenced sounds you get with Angels And Magicians. With The Sheltering Sorrow you get another musical gem!
The title is the last one on Red Planet Boulevard and it's an almost 8 min. long instrumental tune which combines the refrains of the different tunes of this album and so is a kind of retrospective. Its very interesting how Erik Norlander put together the pieces.
A good piece of symphonic rock with a great voice and varying songs. But the album needs a few spins to grow, it lacks some real catchy tunes to catch more attention... I recommend to check out: The Frozen Sea, No Tears Left, The Sheltering Sorrow and Stepford, USA.
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