I’ve been following British melodic rockers Ten since the beginning of their career. We’re talking 1996 when the at that moment brand new band released two magnificent albums in only 1 year time: “X” and “The Name Of The Rose”. I still remember how I eager I was to hear their debut album after I had the chance to check out its opening track on a magazine sampler I got my hands on. The combination of sheer power and beautiful melodies made me fell in love with the band’s music immediately. They continued in a heavier direction on “The Robe”, another quite memorable album, only one year later and on “Spellbound” in 1999, on which they flirted with a more straightforward approach, resulting in what still is their least interesting album in my opinion. They fortunately returned back to their roots with 2000’s concept album “Babylon” and “Far Beyond The World”, which was released another year later.
A couple of more or less silent years followed with Gary Hughes concentrating on his “Once And Future King” project, Paul Hodson working with Bob Catley and his own band and Vinny Burns decided to quit and returned alongside Ya Ya’s Sam Blue with Burns Blue. He got replaced by the talented Chris Francis.
Now Ten return with their seventh studio album “Return To Evermore”, the first release on the band’s own label Intensity Records. Let me be honest: I was quite disappointed by the album’s sound when I gave it a first spin. Where had their power gone? It took me some time to find out the production comes to its rights more when the album’s played loud. Anyway, I’m not going to ramble on about this as the sound is more than OK after all. What about the songs? Well, we all know Gary Hughes can write a good song or two, a status that he confirms with beauties as opener “Apparition”, the haunting “Dreamtide”, AOR hit “Even The Ghosts Cry” with a bit of Harem Scarem and Def Leppard thrown in for good measure, semi-ballad “Strangers In The Night”, the rocking “Evil’s On Top In The World”. With “Evermore” he composed his own “Over The Hills And Far Away” and ballads like “Sail Away” and “Tearing My Heart Out” come surprisingly close to the Dare level.
“Return To Evermore” probably is Ten’s softest and most AOR based album yet and that is certainly not a negative thing. The songs are superb and the performances on par, which can only make me conclude this is a top Ten album…

Extra information: Gary Hughes will sign the first 2000 CDs ordered direct from Intensity Records, Unit 6 Maritime Street Industrial Estate, Copse Road, Fleetwood, FY7 7PB, UK. The cost, including postage and packing is ?10 for orders within the UK and ?12 for worldwide orders. Payment to be made to "A. Stelfox" or by PayPal quoting the email address annettestelfox@yahoo.co.uk (SL)
 

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crusader (on 13/09/06) If you love the robe,or other Ten albums you will love this one!   Modulator (on 26/01/06) Gary Hughes is very talented person who prove that on this CD. Songs are very similar and somehow flow in one direction - to your ears. Good!   Emokid (on 21/10/04) average but but fairly good album... far from the real pleasures of Aor though....   Gloobey (on 17/09/04) Not a patch on the band's earlier releases, which is sad. Hopefully, they can return to former glories at some point. This is just average, which isn't good enough for Ten.   AxeMan (on 9/09/04) Overall this is a very enjoyable album. I enjoy listening to Ten more and more these days. My only real criticism of the Cd is that i don't particularly like the tone of the guitar solo's and they seem to be buried in the mix a bit. The quality of the songs are very high and the melodies are excellent. The third track "Emerald" is awesome and it reminds me alot of Gary Moore's "Blood of Emeralds" song from After the War. Highly recomended.   HIBA (on 9/09/04) I agree with Stijn on the part of the sound quality, which is not so great, especialy the guitars, they, at times, seem to come from the back. On the other hand, it's another good album from a more then average band, but I'm afraid it won't get them further on the road to stardom. The song "evermore" is indeed a reminder of Gary Moore and let's not forget Thin Lizzy. Good but only a must have for the Ten-fans !   kotzenfan (on 18/08/04) This is a wonderful album. As a TEN fan you could not ask for much more. Props to Chris Francis for rippin it up.   Amaranth (on 9/08/04) This one disappoint me a little bit. Too much into the Ten "standard", Gary should up-date the songwriting, as shows in the last track, Tearing My Heart Out, a very good song. Anyway it's an ordinary platter with 2/3 highlight (such as Apparition and Dreamtide), and many "deja-vu" songs ("Evermore" too much similar to "Red", and then Gary Moon influenced!).   Beelzebubba (on 6/08/04) When I firsat heard this cd, I was like OK where is that Ten payoff. The killer powerful chorus that makes you go Hoo-hah. After the first couple listens there was still no outstanding track...until I turned it up, put it on 11 then wow, bang I got it. Great cd but only 4 stars cuz I do not like to work that hard on a cd.   BORDER RAT (on 6/08/04) Ten are one of my favourite bands.This new cd is their best in my opinion.Songs like evermore,sail away,even the ghosts cry,apparition,dreamtide are great melodic rock songs.The last track tearing my heart out is different from anything Ten have ever done and I like this big time.It has a hard gritty melodic riff and is one of my favourites.Super band and super cd.   WOLF 359 (on 2/08/04) Apart from a few songs at the start of this cd what we seem to have is a "Gary hughes" solo cd . The reason i say this is that after opening with the wonderful "APPARITION, DREAMTIDE "and the very "RED" sounding "EVERMORE" . We start to get love song after love song , which i find starts to grate on the nerves after a while . Don't get me wrong the tracks themselves are all well done and great to listen to but all that "I LOVE YOU "stuff gets a bit cloying . That said i must still give a mention to new boy"CHRIS FRANCIS" who puts in a magnificent performance (VINNY WHO?).Not their best but for me more rock less ballad will hit the spot next time , good but not great.   AORPOMPY (on 2/08/04) One of the best Ten releases in years. It's more AOR than melodic hardrock and I'm very happy with that. The songs and the musianship are as always from a high level. Good stuff. Full deserved 5 star rating, it's not a classic after all !   AOR Ive (on 1/08/04) Ten has been one of my favourite bands of the last 5 years and I must say that they never realy dissapointed me . I rated all their albums with 9 points or more out of 10 , only their third album 'The Robe' I only gave 8.5 points out of 10 . I got 'Return for evermore' 4 weeks now and I have to say that I think it's one of the best Ten albums ever and probably also a contender for a top 10 position at the end of the year . I must agree with Stijn that it's one of their softer albums , but if you record this kind of quality songs you can't do no wrong even if you only got 2 or 3 real heavy melodic hardrock songs on it . Truly fantastic .

 

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