Avi Rosenfeld - 2018 - Very Heepy Very Purple VIII

(48:49; Avi Rosenfeld)

Track list:
1. Serenade to the Heroes 3:56
2. Marco Polo 5:23
3. Save Them All 4:06
4. Jon Snow 5:06
5. Ice Storm 5:35
6. Right to Live 4:41
7. Seven Riders 5:50
8. Silent Killers 3:54
9. Más Rápido Que La Luz 4:54
10. Never Die 5:24

Line-up:
Avi Rosenfeld - guitars
with:
Nicholas Walsh - vocals
Vahtango Zadiev - vocals
Mike Livas - vocals
Ray Blindman - vocals
David Reed Watson - vocals
Luca Micioni - vocals
Robin Roy - vocals
Christian Bertoncelli - vocals
Joao Fortinho - vocals
Thomas Lofholm - drums
Giovanni Maucieri - drums
Gilberto Heredia Cerda - drums
Edo Sala - drums
Koudai Okamoto - drums
Oliver Kaiser - drums
Eduardo Goodyear - drums
George Schiessl - bass
Cedric Camus - bass
Boris Blanckemane - bass
Jon Garcia - bass
Ian MacIntosh - bass
Sergey Engel - bass
Joao Manechini - bass
Alf Shumacher - organ
Friso Bruinsma - organ
Anton Purtseladze - organ
Sven Wannas - organ
Victor Hugo Moraes Alonso - organ
George Barabas - organ, strings, synthesizer
Koray Alarslan - organ, piano, strings
Mike Smith - keyboards
Gregorio Tedde - keyboards
Nate Musixmanz - violin


Israeli composer and musician Avi Rosenfeld is a creative powerhouse releasing new studio albums at a quicker rate than most artists out there today, and I believe he has more than 50 albums to his name at the time of writing. "Very Heepy Very Purple VIII" is the eighth chapter of a long ongoing album series of his, his 30th studio album overall, and was self released in the spring of 2018.

As the album title indicates, classic era hard rock is the name of the game here, and with Deep Purple and Uriah Heep as some of the main influential forces that have inspired the music explored in this album series. In the case of this chapter, it would appear that Deep Purple may be the main source of inspiration, or at least that elements from the history of that band have had the most marked impression on the dominant aspects of the material here. With the lead vocals and the organ being the two elements that dominate the compositions here.

The quartet of songs that opens this album are among the best songs that have been explored in this album series in my opinion, all of them examples of good songs where the individual contributors have managed to execute their parts in a high quality manner without overextending their abilities. With the songs more or less subtly referencing 80's Deep Purple, Rainbow, Mark II Deep Purple and Mark I Deep Purple respectively in terms of mood, atmosphere and feel.

The remaining songs on this album never quite manage to reach the highs of this opening quartet though. In some cases because the songs comes across as less developed or a bit more lacking in direction , in some cases because of the contributors slightly overextending their contributions with slightly strained vocals being a recurring element, in some cases because the arrangements just becomes a bit too chaotic with too many instruments being just a bit too dominant simultaneously,. Most of them are pleasant songs though, but for me at least they lack that little extra that makes me hum along and feel a desire to push the repeat button to have one more listen straight away.

All the albums in this series deliver what the album title indicates, with a varying degree of experienced quality due to matters of subjective taste and some instances of objective quality too. The latter often comes down to the former too of course, as some people are more sensitive than others in certain matters of music. If you love and treasure the music of bands like Deep Purple and Uriah Heep, and otherwise have an affection for classic era hard rock and metal, these albums of Avi Rosenfeld will always be worth a listen. And in the case of this album with at least four cuts I'd describe as being as solid in quality and execution as the bands that inspired them.

Olav M. Björnsen, February 2023

Links:
https://avirosenfeld.wixsite.com/avirosenfeldband