Danger Zone

Danger Zone is the fourth album, on which Hardline combined soaring vocals, tight guitar riffs and thick choruses to neatly assemble the appeal of classic melodic hard rock. This 2012 Frontiers release was the first album pairing Johnny Gioeli with Alessandro Del Vecchio — on keyboards, production and songwriting — who built the framework of Hardline from here on. Thorsten Koehne (guitar), Anna Portalupi (bass) and Francesco Jovino (drums) support the playing. The songs are dramatic but not over-decorated, keeping the strength of the vocal as the lead. From the racing single “Fever Dreams,” the forceful title track “Danger Zone,” and “Never Too Late for Love” to the closer “The Only One,” every song has a big chorus and steady playing. Del Vecchio, who loved Double Eclipse as a boy, wrote with Gioeli’s voice in mind and led the band toward a more refined melodic rock. A firm starting point for the new, largely Italian, lineup — the classic appeal delivered head-on.