Asia
Phoenix

THE REVIEW

Listening to these albums, sometimes, brings you an indescribable peace.

Enough with thrash, power, death. Enough with metal. Sometimes you need to take a break and a good healthy dose of classic rock filled with AOR-like melodies can only do you good. Especially if you're talking about Asia.

Their reunion, the reunion of the original lineup, is quite significant. Asia, a supergroup formed in '82, creators of masterpieces like "Heat Of The Moment", a global hit, can only be welcomed with open arms today. And here we find Wetton, Downes, Howe, and Palmer together again (first loved, then hated, then arch-enemies, then together again... What a soap opera, folks!). Now, I can already imagine the scene: four losers, aware that on their own nobody notices them anymore, sitting around a table, with a nice glass of whiskey talking about the good old days... Alright then! Let's have this reunion, it always works.

Well, generally I'm not very in favor of certain things, also because I consider them shameless commercial gimmicks, just the right thing to blow up the product of the moment in the market. But if I have to judge only the music, then I close my eyes and open my eardrums, and when I listen to "Alibis," the opener "Never Again," and the wonderful ballads, where the band's pop/AOR reaches stratospheric levels ("An Extraordinary Life" and the wonderful "Heroine" which generates a fabulous harmonic line, even if it takes its cue from "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes") you can't help but be ecstatic, especially in front of a Wetton in full grace (listen to believe the sonic tapestry woven by the singer's vocal cords in "Orchards of Mine," where the anguished and epic voice gives a charming and moving touch to the song in question).

And it's only then that you understand that an album like "Phoenix" has the right to see the light because it is Asia's phoenix rising to new life, and I couldn't have found a different title.

In conclusion, an album that I wouldn't define as an AOR masterpiece (even though it touches masterpiece status more than once) but certainly embodies a really high class.