Okay, I love Melodic Rock. I really do. Honest. But Great Britain’s SHADE are just barely Melodic Rock. In fact, they’re more like one part Melodic Rock, three parts Country. And what’s the only thing worse than Country? You guessed it: generic, formless Country!

The first three songs on “One Way Line” aren’t too bad at all; “Lean On Me” in particular has a nice smooth AOR vibe to it. However, after “Shouldn’t Have Let You Go”, the record becomes utterly un-listenable. Singer Emma Shade isn’t to blame, since she wails her heart out, but rather the poor songwriting is to blame. Half the choruses on “One Way Line” seem to consist of the song title repeated eight times. You’d think ex-DARE members Simon Gardner and Andrew Moore would have enough experience to prevent something like this from happening.

Melodic Rock fans will definitely want to skip over this one. It’s been a good year for AOR; go find something nice on Frontiers Records and treat yourself. Don’t waste your time on this crap.

(Online January 24, 2008)