voila_la_scorie It's more mature than "New Jersey" by Bon Jovi. It's got more power than White Lion but it's not bad boy like "Whitesnake" or "Slip of the Tongue" by Whitesnake. At times, it has the fun and vocal feel of Sammy Hagar Van Halen but is usually more serious like White Wolf. Then there's that great guitar playing of 1987-1992 glam metal / hard rock, which reminds me of "III Sides to Every Story" by Extreme. Pete Lesperance has picked up some of the best guitar licks from those years and created some excellent guitar tracks, both riff and lead, for this album.

"Mood Swings" is the second official release by melodic hard rockers Harem Scarem. The first two tracks "Saviors Never Cry" and "No Justice" deliver the best of the band's hard and heavy guitar rock with powerhouse vocals. Whether it's Harry Hess' vein-bursting, rough-edged power vocals or the chorus vocals with the full band, the vocal department fully keeps up with the guitar and the solid rhythm section. Though I became disenchanted with this style of production, which I claimed was over-produced loudness, in the late eighties, the production on this 1992 release makes the music work as it is. Someone learned something in the early nineties.

Curiously, when I first heard this album, I was at times reminded of early Dream Theater, which incorporated a lot of melodic glam metal vocal melodies. If DT had dropped the prog side the music might have shown some similarities. Or if Harem Scarem had gone prog!

Well, I mentioned the first two songs but the whole album is a ride of heavy rockin' guitar with some great licks and strong melodies. The band sometimes leans more to the grittier side but swings back to melodic choruses. Two tracks that are different from the rest of the album are the short instrumental "Mandy" which features Lesperance's melodic lead guitar abilities and "Just Like I Planned" which is an a Capella track. The latter I feel loses some of what it promises due to the loud production. They could have eased back a bit and brought out the vocal harmonies better. It's also worthy of mentioning "Jealousy" because they go for that clean bluesy guitar sound like on late Stevie Ray Vaughn albums but don't go blues. Hess proves to have such a strong voice that it's possible to imagine him singing soul funk or contemporary blues.

I'll admit this is an album to listen to when you're in the mood. I held off on reviewing it for weeks but today it just sounds right. For fans of this style, it's easily four stars. Great musicians and vocals, powerful and melodic music, a band that really has it together.

Stephen After the first two monster albums, HAREM SCAREM did an extremely risky experiment with 'Voice of Reason'. Combining the grungy era of 1995 with symphonic element of QUEEN and dark-oriented hard rock riffage, the result is a very contradictive output than the earlier records that alienates many melodic rock fans. To me personally, this is among my least-fave albums but not necessarily bad by any means.

I rarely pull this out of the shelf for some spins because the inconsistency of songs quality and you're required to have a certain mood to really enjoy the whole album. There are many better songs in the first half than the second with the most notably goodies here are the mid-tempo ballad of 'Blue' and 'Let It Go'; the psychedelic tune with superb solos of 'Warming A Frozen Rose'; and 'Breathing Sand' with a struggling verse but splendid chorus.

On the second half, 'Candle' is great but I like the acoustical version better, which was featured as a bonus track in the Japanese release. 'Necessary Evil' is also nice, but tracks like 'The Paint Thins', 'I'll Be Brief', or the catastrophic 'Untouched' are quite awful. Pick up those great songs and combine it with their 'Live and Acoustic EP', and they possibly can have an awesome third release.

Measuring this album with those upper songs and the passable fillers, I arrived at 70%. Still a good album by a high-quality band, but not a good pick for starter though.

Stephen The Toronto-based melodic rock act was formed in 1987 by Pete Lesperance and Harold Hess and not long did I found out that the band name they've been using was derived from the 1939 Bugs Bunny cartoon prototype, Hare-um Scare-um. What makes these guys extremely interesting is that they were out against the world in 1991 when grunge started spreading like a disease by delivering a pompous harmonic rock style which hardly acceptable by mainstream masses back then. Failed to grab attention in the land of America, Harem Scarem was considered successful in their home country and surprisingly gained many cult followers in Japan. This debut raised the flag high and became one of their highly-praised release along with the follow-up, "Mood Swings".

The whole concept of this album is a glorious midtempo rock with an immense harmonic vocals and sentimental guitar touch. "Hard To Love" began the set with a strong uplifting melody and undeniably awesome chorus. "Distant Memory" slows down a bit but the magical tones of the whole song is breathtakingly beautiful. "With A Little Love" and "How Long" shared a same fascinating formula but each song has its own highlight and brilliant moment. "Slowly Slipping Away" scored a major hit in the Canadian chart when it was released, featuring a versatile delivery drown deep inside a superb composition. "Honestly" is an expressive ballad, flowing with a silky voice and untainted emotion-stirring notes. This is simply one of their masterwork that have stood the test of time. "Something To Say" closed the album with an enchanting acoustical passage driven by Hess' griefing vocal, singing a sad serenade "i try to read between the lines, but all I see is the end".

Harem Scarem's self-titled record casted a delightful AOR from start to finish without leaving you with any trace of disappointment at all, and it's even better to get the Japanese version as the three acoustical rendition of their songs are taking the excitement level one step higher. No doubt this album is a sweet sensation with a string of flawless songs, a must-buy!