  
Escape/Sound Pollution
Californian band TALON emerged from VOXEN, who sort of made it when their track “Sacrifice” was included in the Dustin Hoffman movie Outbreak. Their self titled debut was released by Frontiers in 2002, and this is their fourth outing. Previous vocalist Chandler Mogul brought them closer to AOR, and apparently left (for the successful OUTLOUD) on mutual agreement, paving the way for new vocalist Shawn Petala (LINE OF FIRE). The band now consists of guitarists Kory Voxen and Jimi Lee, bass man Phil Keller, drummer John Parker and new keyboard player Eric Ragno (CHINA BLUE). Classic hard rock and a return to the energy and sound of their debut is promised, let´s find out!
The overall sound picture is a bit lame, the energy promised seems lost in the mix at times. But Shawn is well suited to the music, and they somehow convinced JEFF SCTT SOTO to sing on “Take You all the Way”. Opener “Crying to Me” has all the riffs, keys and oohh yeeahs that a classic hard rock song needs. But the final punch is somewhat lost in the tamed mix. “The Last Time” reminds me of KILLER DWARFS, not bad in my ears. The cozy refrains are legio, but they only come close to that all-important killer song. The AOR hard rock of “Everytime”, the slightly heavier “Take You All the Way”, the melodic highlight of “You Don´t Know Me at All”, “You Got What It Takes” and the AOR ending of “Jane” are all so close, but the music business is merciless. The sedate “Maybe One Day” and the lighter warning of “Brothers” are the let downs, the lack of pace is not suitable for the band. I quite like this, but the label future classic is not close. The aim and performance is fine, but a new mix and production might have done the trick. This might be five star material in the future after all, when it gets a revamp and re-release 20 years from now…
Track List
Crying to Me
The Last Time
Did You Have to Say
Everytime
Take You All the Way
Maybe One Day
You Don´t Know Me at All
Walk Away
Brothers
When Will I
You Got What It Takes
Jane
www.escape-music.com www.reverbnation.com/talonofficial
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