ALBUM REVIEW: Gotthard score a hit with album number 12 Silver

Swiss hard rock outfit Gotthard are set to release their 12th studio album today, Friday January 13^th and for fans of the band and hard rock it is highly recommended!

Formed in Lugano, Switzerland 25 years ago by singer Steve Lee and guitarist Leo Leoni the new album has been aptly named ‘Silver’.

It’s the third album with singer Nic Maeder at the helm and he has now firmly established himself in that role. Musically it has the harder rock sound as in ‘Bang!’ rather than some of their softer rock earlier albums but has more of a feel of seminal albums ‘Lip Service’ and ‘Domino Effect’.

Well known for their ballads Gotthard have actually released an album without one on it....sort of, but if you are expecting another ‘One Life, One Soul’ or ‘Heaven’” you won’t find it on ‘Silver’. A couple of songs almost fit the bill but what you actually get on this album is a masterpiece in straight forward hard rock with that distinctive catchy Gotthard sound, anthemic choruses with big hooks, excellent riffs and solos and a super tight rhythm section

Starting with ‘Silver River’ with a keyboard and harmony vocals intro it develops into a classic hard rock riff with a real groove to it. The solo is a sign of good things to come later.

‘Electrified’ continues with the up tempo groove attack and features a nice bass line from Marc. There’s a great hook on this fast paced song that briefly lets up before the solo which continues on for a time under the vocal.

Track 3, “Stay With Me’ is the first released single. With an acoustic start that hints at a ballad it soon builds into a melodic song with a nice mixture of soft and hard rock tempos. The vocal harmonies are spot on and it’s another song with a big hook questioning whether you should change who you are just to stay with someone, just to please them.

The catchy ‘Beautiful’ has a radio friendly mid tempo beat with great harmony vocals and just enough of a hard edge to it. It’s a song about escaping from the world with someone to make a better life together with the weight of the world lifted from your shoulders. The tempo and beat nicely conveys this feeling.

‘Everything Inside’ is a song of hope and freeing your mind without keeping things bottled up. It has a haunting opening but has a good solid rock riff to it that gives the song an upbeat feel to it. It also has a pretty good solo that fits the song nicely.

As for track 6, ‘Reason For This’ has a Heart style riff to start but develops into a mid tempo, straight forward rocker with a tight rhythm section and nice vocals from Nic. It’s a song about blame and has good harmony vocals to match.

‘Not Fooling Anyone’ has an acoustic start and screams Gotthard ballad. But, it’s not exactly that as it has an almost personal emotional depth to it that defies the normal love style ballad as it’s about having a cold heart which makes it acoustic angst and not quite the typical smushy ballad.

‘Miss Me’ is up next. With a slow groove to it it doesn’t quite build into the song it could’ve been as the lyrics have a lot of hurt and pain that a slightly harder edge from the middle section might’ve sold the songs meaning and feeling better. Doesn’t make it a bad song, in fact it’s good but just feels like something is missing…

Track 9 is the interestingly titled ‘Tequila Symphony No.5. We are now back to the hard rocking mode again (with a nice classical music touch) with a great riff and rhythm section. It’s another song about dealing with the darker side of the mind, finding yourself and needing someone to believe in you to do so. Possibly the best track on the album both lyrically and musically.

‘Why”’is another acoustic track mixed with a rock beat and has the now traditional Gotthard background vocals.

Track 11 “Only Love is Real” has a piano, vocal and orchestral intro that develops into quite a dramatic song both lyrically and musically. It has a great arrangement to it and the songs title basically gives the lyrical content away.

Penultimate song ‘My Oh My’ is right out of the ‘Domino Effect’ era with a heavy riff and probably Nic’s best vocal delivery. With some excellent guitar work it’s another song with a positive message. It competes with ‘Tequilla Sympony No 5 as possibly the best song on the album depending on your personal taste.

Final track “Blame on Me” is a fast paced rocker to finish the album off. With a bit of harmonica thrown in for good measure, it’s full of energy with a bit of a manic solo to it. A song many can relate to about going out for a pint (or in this case JD) which doesn’t quite end up like that!

Lyrically the album feels like an exercise in the duality of life and trying to keep the balance between good and bad. A crisp, clear production only enhances the musicianship of this band and the variety of songs they are capable of producing. With little bits of piano, harmonica and the good old Hammond organ thrown in for good measure this is an album that is highly recommended!

Review by Andy Gillen

Gotthard are :

Leo Leoni (guitar)

Freddy Scherer (guitar)

Marc Lynn (bass)

Hena Habegger (drums)

Nic Maeder (vocals)

ALBUM REVIEW: Gotthard re-release not one, not two, but four albums on two CDs

Swiss Hard Rock outfit Gotthard have a long and illustrious career behind them. The band were founded in 1992 by guitarist Leo Leoni and singer Steve Lee, who was sadly killed in a motorbike accident in 2010.

They have released 11 studio albums (nine with Lee) and are about to issue their 12th album, their third with new singer Nic Maeder, ‘Silver’, on January 13th.

Interestingly though record company Nuclear Blast have decided to re-release four albums from Gotthard's back catalogue two weeks later.

The albums are part of their classic album series and will come in the way of two CDs in a package. One will include ‘Need to Believe’ (the last with Lee) and Firebirth (the first with Maeder) the second will be ‘Lip Service’ and ‘Domino Effect’, which are possibly their finest two, ‘Domino’ in particular a fan favourite due to its darker lyrics.

Both packages include bonus tracks, ‘Need to Believe’ has the tracks ‘Ain’t Enough’ and ‘Speed of Light’ both of which are fast-paced rockers with harder lyrics and great guitar work by Leoni, while ‘Firebirth’ includes a mostly acoustic version of album opener Starlight which is almost Bluegrass in style and an instrumental version of The Beatles (or more accurately George Harrison) song ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. This is an excellent version of a song that’s been done to death and Leoni’s solo out does Clapton’s version by a mile with a more modern twist to it.

‘Lip Service’ has no bonus tracks but ‘Domino Effect’ includes ‘Can’t Be The Real Thing’ and ‘ Superman’ (which was originally released on the Japanese version). Both songs are hard rocking tunes with catchy riffs in usual Gotthard style and the usual great vocals from Lee.

Releasing these specials only two weeks after their new album may well be a clever marketing ploy by Nuclear Blast but if you are a fan from way back then the only reason to buy them are for the bonus tracks which you probably have already.

However, if you are relatively new to the band then ‘Need to Believe and Firebirth gives you a good comparison between Lee and Maeder, who by the way does an excellent job of filling the huge shoes of Steve Lee, although maybe not quite on the ballads. The Lip Service / Domino Effect special is an absolute must buy if you are new to the band as it shows them at their very best.

Bottom line – most, if not all, Gotthard albums are worth having in your collection so whether you buy these specials will be a personal choice and will depend on what you already own but Nuclear Blast have picked 4 damn good albums for you to start with.

Roll on Jan 13th when “Silver” is released

Review by Andy Gillen

NEWS: Gotthard set to release new album 'Silver' in January

THE 25th ANNIVERSARY...
A QUARTER of a century ago, Gotthard set out from the idyllic Swiss canton Tessin to conquer the world with pure, straightforward rock and gigantic ballads.

In 2016, we can undoubtedly certify that they’ve pulled off the trick: With 15 No.1 albums and various multi platinum awards Gotthard are not only the most successful Swiss band but are also a staple in the global spotlight.

The hard rockers from Lugano played a lot more than 2000 concerts on three continents with the likes of Deep Purple, Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi and AC/DC, performed celebrated headliner tours all over Europe, and sold over three million records to date.

For 25 years, Gotthard have been a regular in the charts and represent SWISS ROCK AT IT’S BEST!

The band are set to release a brand new studio album, “Silver”, in 2017. A distillation of everything that has made Gotthard such an enduring act. The third album with lead singer Nic Maeder is produced by Charlie Bauerfeind (Helloween, Blind Guardian among others) and Leo Leoni – so the dream team’s at it again.

“We were all very happy with the workflow and the result of the BANG! production – so it was pretty clear that we wanted to give the great collaboration another shot!”
The record will be released on January 13, 2017 on Musikvertrieb in Switzerland and internationally via PIAS – which means that the first Friday the 13th next year won’t spell bad luck. Quite the opposite.

The band are set to tour throughout 2017 starting with no UK dates announced so far.

In the current line-up consisting of Leo Leoni (guitar), Freddy Scherer (guitar), Marc Lynn (bass), Hena Habegger (drums), and Nic Maeder (vocals) “Firebirth” proved to be a deeply felt homage to rock ‘n‘ roll, emphasizing the band’s reincarnated joy of making music. As if given a new pair of wings, Gotthard, who rank at no.6 of the Swiss all-time album chart history, kicked off their 2016 world tour across 22 countries, playing to more than 300,000 people.