TALISMAN — Talisman (review)

TALISMAN — Talisman album cover Album · 1990 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Stephen
Talisman was founded in the 80s by Marcel Jacob, a legendary Swedish bassist in the melodic rock realm, and most of the materials he wrote in this album at first was meant to be appeared in John Norum's second solo album with Goran Edman as the singer, but Norum didn't like it and Edman finally joined Yngwie Malmsteen. Jacob contacted Jeff Scott Soto, an old friend he met when both of them played with Yngwie in 1985's "Marching Out" to fill in the singer shoes, Soto agreed, and eventually this debut was released in the dawn of 1990 and the rest is history.

Talisman's style is something you want to hear if you like Europe's early heavy-metal edge sound smoothed out with the melodic hard rock harmonies. You can never go wrong with Soto's prowling voice but the real mastermind of this record is the great songwriting and musicianship of Marcel Jacob. "Break Your Chains" is an explosive opening track and "Standin' on Fire" continues the blast before they amaze you with the best track of the album, "I'll Be Waiting", the single that shot their name to the sky. Not to forget with two other incredible tracks which also easily became my favourites, "Day By Day" and "Just Between Us", basically this whole album offered a complete solid composition from start to finish. A great purchase which worth every penny you spent!

If only Marcel Jacob didn't trade place with John Leven, he's probably stuck with Europe to this day, enjoyed tremendous success, and still live strongly today. Even though Marcel Jacob has gone after committed suicide in 2009, his remarkable legacy will live on and on, and you can hear his playing in other great acts such as Last Autumn Dream and Human Clay. This debut was also reissued in 1993 with extra 6 raw live bonus tracks and featured "Scream of Anger', one of Europe's hit which was originally written by Jacob and Tempest.
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