Open

Open is a work on which Gotthard, combining thick guitar riffs and songcraft-filled beautiful melody, sounds large-scale hard rock. As the title suggests, it steps into a more open, wide musicality, and even in heavy songs the choruses are truly open. In ballads, the rich expression of Steve Lee’s vocals is carefully drawn out. A record reflecting the mature band at the end of the 1990s. From the powerful drive of the opener “Free and Alive” and the drama of “Vision” to the lyrical “Let It Rain,” the songs vary in hue yet the straight, sure heat of the playing and the strength of the melody firmly connect the whole work, while cuts like “You” and “Got to Be Love” heighten the work’s appeal. The band’s wide expression is displayed. Its appeal is uniting popular accessibility and a sure hard-rock core at an extremely high level. It also deftly melts in a more refined pop sense. The sure chemistry of Steve Lee’s mature voice and Leo Leoni’s guitar shines throughout. Showing the breadth and deepening of Gotthard’s melody, it is a fulfilling melodic-hard-rock work.