Stephen Affair is a project of ex-Mystery's singer, Peter De Wint and ex-Frontline and Bonfire's Chris Lausmann. Their debut, "Face To Face", was released in 1997 and featured a typical German melodic hard rock in the veins of Bonfire, Fair Warning, and Jaded Heart. The sound production is marvelous, the solo guitar fills are magnificent, but most songs here just lack of something powerful that could propel them to become worldwide hits.

Out of thirteen tracks presented here, I only found four standout tracks. The title track, a mid-paced tune with powerful and punchy chorus; "Free And Easy", a speedy track with fantastic bridge and monstrous chorus; "Wish You Were Here", a great commercial power ballad that's reminiscent of Whitesnake's "The Deeper The Love"; and "Day By Day", their best creation, an excellent acoustical-driven ballad with a memorable tones. Other tracks such as "Changes", has a wonderful intro and heavily influenced by Mr.Big's groove, or "Call of The Wild" and "Heart of Rock n' Roll" are also acceptable, but "My Life", "Love Never Dies", and "Too Shy" are example of songs that fade away easily from our mind.

If you like German's style melodic rock, "Face To Face" won't disappoint you, you can always find couple of ass-kicker songs here. With a great voice and nicely played rhythm section, Affair's debut could have been better if they reworked some of the average songs, but at this state, 3 stars is fully valued.

Time Signature Get going...

Genre: heavy metal / hard rock

"No Substitute" by Affair is a good solid traditional heavy metal release.

There's a lot of traditional metal style riffing on this album, and an overall 80s metal sensibility. Fortunately, the production is crisp and up to date, so, unlike metal albums from the 80s, "No Substitute" is not drowned in reverb, which I am very thankful for. Musically, it's a traditional heavy metal with, as I said, classic style riffage, classic style vocals, classic style drumming, and a bass somewhere in the mix.

A lot of traditional 80s metal - at least the more commercial stuff - also contained a lot of cheesiness in the form of sappy power ballads and over-the-top celebration of rock 'n' roll music. Those elements are also present here, but, fortunately, "No Substitute" rarely goes all the way up the eleven on the chese-o-meter.

Affair have manages to create an updated version of traditional 80s metal and hard rock with "No Substitute", which is an album that I enjoy listening to. I think it will appeal to most fans of good ole 80s heavy metal, and glamsters and fans of hard rock will probably like it, too.