CD Review: Cole Hermer & The Ravens' 'Quoth The Raven'

Cole Hermer & The Ravens
Quoth The Raven
Self-Release

Hailing from Ontario, Canada, Cole Hermer & The Ravens resurrect vocals and melodies of good 'ol rock music from the 1980s and 90s with all original material, a guitar, a voice, and a dream. Cole's vocals fall somewhere between Axl Rose and Fuel. The five-track release contains rock/metal-infused tunes with "California Breakdown," "Exploitable," and "Teenage Creed." These tunes contain big guitars, punchy rhythms, great vocals, and great licks with spectacular electric guitar solos. For a lighter side, Cole's ballad creations take the stage on "Friends" and "Maybe." The vocals are still great, as well as the instrumental arrangements. These latter songs represent a more intimate picture to the musical mix. Quoth The Raven has everything from hot licks to hot vocals that leave an impression. Fans of good rock music will love it. Everyone else will love it, too! ~ Matthew Forss  

CD Review: Canada's Dala 'Everyone Is Someone'

Dala

Everyone Is Someone

Campus Music/Lenz Entertainment

The Ontario-based folk duo, Dala, is taking the charts by storm with their award-winning album, Everyone Is Someone. The contempoary folk group is similar in sound to Shawn Colvin, Susan Aglukark, and Sarah MacLachlan. In fact, "Lonely Girl" is uniquely Dala, but it seems like a slightly stripped-down folk song ("Building A Mystery" comes to mind) in the vein of Sarah MacLachlan. The mix of folk instrumentation and pop tunes contains a weighty amount of instruments, including keyboards, mandolin, guitar, piano, drums, bass, harp, cello, banjo, strings, cow bell, hand claps, and something called icicle keyboards. The songs are tender, sweet, and catchy. The English-lyric songs describe love, happiness, Northern culture, and poignant stories backed by superb vocal harmonies and folksy instrumentation with a flair for neo-folk leanings on "Northern Lights," "Younger," and "Levi Blues." Dala is dala-lightful in every sense of the word. ~ Matthew Forss