Pink Cream 69
Sonic Dynamite

The new millennium had created some doubts that could leave you breathless: meh, will it be the end of the world or not? The answer from everyone was F*********K! (Rightfully so!). And I believe the Pink Cream 69 felt the same way.

The millennium starts off great for them, with "Sonic Dynamite" dated exactly 2000. But many would ask: "Yes, but is this Sonic Dynamite really a sonic dynamite?" The answer is yes, and I must admit that doing better than the previous "electrified" album was almost impossible. But with this album, I must admit we came very close! Could it also be due to the cover, featuring a stunning bosomy lady you'd want to do everything imaginable to? Well, I leave the benefit of the doubt!

The album itself presents some small novelties: Pink Cream remains the same, only this time the keyboards are much more extensively rediscovered, with principal inspiration by that monster Gunter Werno, the keyboardist from the progsters Vanden Plas, resulting in PC 69's music being an atmospheric hard rock, much more melodic and refined. Some power passages also reappear to make the album less flat and monotonous.

The keyboard/acoustic intro of "Passage To Hope" opens the dance to the decidedly power song "Seas Of Madness", with a great performance from Readman and a masterful Zafiriou who hits the drums like a madman. More AOR oriented is "Followed By The Moon", with some truly beautiful harmonies although I must admit that a little more punch would have helped on this song. Absolutely stunning is "Sonic Dynamite", a hard rock made with balls, with a double bass used wisely and excellent guitar phrasings by the ever-good Koffler. "The Spirit" is instead much more atmospheric and continues the theme started with Followed By The Moon: large keyboard landscapes blend in perfectly, this time with the guitars and Ward's bass, with melody taking the lead. A beautiful acoustic intro introduces the superb "Speed Of Light", which indeed has nothing of speed and power: this time it's again a good hard rock that builds the foundation of this excellent song, apart from some really successful breaks.

We are halfway through the album, and we encounter the menacing "Waiting For The Dawn", which is also one of the most successful songs of the album; in fact, it stands out for its stylistic variety, between tempo changes and even blues passages. This is followed by two rather anonymous songs like "Let The Thunder Reside" and "Lost In Illusions": the first is a rather sentimental ballad that, apart from some piano parts, says nothing; the second, although it's recently a fixed appointment at their live shows, features guitars that are too compressed and has always seemed too banal to me. It's decidedly better with the rhythmic and extravagant "Face Of An Angel", where we can finally hear Dennis Ward's bass again, apart from the fact that the song in question possesses several elements, like beautiful melodies, excellent harmonies especially in the chorus, and a great arpeggiated interlude. We finally return to hard rock territories with "Shattered Prophecy", a decidedly surprising song with excellent riffs and bass lines, as well as being well-paced. The album closes with the sunny and atmospheric "Spread Your Wings", made of only guitar and keyboard. A decent song that is saved thanks to Readman's performance on the mic, not only dedicated to high notes but also capable of modulating his voice according to the rhythm, as had already happened on "Electrified". The digipack version contains a nice and very successful cover of The Police wisely pink-cream-ized, that is, "Truth Hits Everybody".

For me, "Sonic Dynamite" is a remarkable album, versatile and definitely spot-on in some parts, despite a few drops in tone here and there (about 2-3 songs out of 12, thus an enviable average), confirming them greatly, and I reiterate, it wasn't easy after Electrified. A year and a half later, the decidedly inferior Endagered will be released, highlighting some limitations related to melody. Recommended to everyone, not just hard rock lovers but also AOR fans.