Vocalist and bassist Robert Berry, guitarist Gary Pihl, and drummer David Lauser — collectively known as Alliance — have a new album for 2019 called Fire And Grace, the first from this band since 2008’s Road To Heaven.
Spanning 30 years, the players in Alliance are sought after for some of rock’s best-known names, which is one of the reasons the group takes so long to record albums — these guys are damn busy. For Fire And Grace, Berry, Pihl and Lauser finally moved forward with a dose of well-produced heavy pop-flavored songs shot through with lots of catchy choruses, big riffs, upfront drums, and soaring vocals.
The album’s 13 tracks mine a mid MTV-era sound. Even the ballads like “Uncertain,” with its wonderful piano lines (Berry also plays the keyboards throughout) and progressive rock break, and “Time” flow along with that 80s patina. This is not a bad thing, but the songs are certainly painted with a familiar type of straight-ahead, snare-snapping verses with dramatic choruses and thick keys and guitar.
Berry’s vocals rock every step of the way on songs like “I’ll Have Some Of That” and “Real Thing,” which sounds similar to Sammy Hagar era Van Halen — not so unusual when one considers Pihl and Lauser were in the Red Rocker’s solo band. “Fast Forward” keeps everything locked deep and loaded with an especially infectious chorus.
Considering Pihl (a member of Boston for over 30 years) and Lauser’s Hagar lineage combined with Berry, who spent time in the 80s with Steve Howe in GTR and Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer in 3 — one shouldn’t be surprised that Alliance is a cut above the rest. For their sixth album together they made sure Fire And Grace was filled with both — fire and grace.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
