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The Trophy is a new band project of guitarist Todd Wolf and singer Michael Bormann. Wolf was in Human Fortress, but lately he wanted to do some more melodic stuff and so started The Trophy to have a home for his melodic metal / hard rock tunes.
Slowly they kick of with the title track The Gift Of Life, after a balladesque opening the tune becomes a melodic heavy rocker with a catchy hook. But they return to the opening theme - for a moment. The songs lives from the contrast between heavy parts with metallic riffing and melodic passages. A balladesque rocker is When The Nightmares Wake Me Up, the song somehow sounds familiar... Marco Grasshof's keyboard stays in the background and with the backing vocals they bring back the sound of the late 80's... At that days this one would have made it into heavy rotation at US American rock radio stations. An emotional rocker is Rescue Me, here the keyboard is partly a bit too prominent - at least for me. Very heavy is Can't Get Out Of My Head, but with some modern sounds and balladesque parts. Anyway, here they cross the border to melodic power metal. You can also check out The Way and the heavy closer On These Wings.
Somehow the first 2 songs show what The Trophy is about. At the moment it seems that hard rock is getting more popular again... Trends are coming and going, perhaps The Trophy are the forerunners of a new wave of glam metal... Anyway, there are still melodic metal fans out there who like this sound and this album is made for them! I would welcome a bit more variety... Resume: Nothing new, but well done!
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