Stephen Almost ten years in silence, MECCA finally released their sophomore record, 'Undeniable', which received mix opinions from AOR community. Some call it their best, half of them call it pretty worthless. I suspect people that don't like it probably because it's kinda overhyped with nothing's new and kinda softer than the debut. I must agree that it's not really great as some has stated, but there are great moments here, an undeniable fact.

'Perfect World' and 'Closing Time' are pretty decent but 'Ten Lifetimes' brought up the momentum. Ironically, it's not an uptempo tune, it's a slow one, but the song is just so moving, and the solo is very nice. 'Life's Too Short' is unique with a spoken verse like a motown song, the chorus is good, but 'I Know' and 'Did It For Love' strike better. The latter reminds me a lot to TOTO and among my personal fave.

On the second half, the quality is still maintained and my pick is 'Deceptive Decadence', a great piano-driven track, lengthy, and similar to some songs in SLAMER's 'Nowhere Land'. 'As I Walk Alone' is very mellow, almost westcoast like, probably not suitable for fans of rock, but this made such an awesome midnight song.

Joe Vana's vocal is amazing, the production is also nice and smooth, but one thing that you need to pay attention is that it's a pure AOR record, with a little hint of hard rock in some songs, so people expecting heavier music should stay away, but for those who's looking for a sanctuary in the dead of the night, 'Undeniable' is a good option

Time Signature Perfect world...

Genre: melodic hard rock

This album is an undeniable tour de force of melodic AOR hard rock, as it contains a lot of the things that make melodic hard rock enjoyable - at least to me.

First of all, the guitar is at the center of things on this album, and with the many solid and, at times even quite heavy, riffs, a couple of which enter metal territory, and guitar solos which are both blazing and full of feel "Undeniable" should definitely hit it with guitar fans. But, there is more to the album in terms of performance than just the guitar, as the drums, while not overly technical, actually has some interesting wee details on the cymbals and the hi-hat and provides an overall rocking drive.

But, given that this is melodic hard rock, there is of course emphasis on melody, which is reflected in the extremely catchy vocal lines, but also in a good handful of tunes being perhaps softer than what some fans of hard rock might like, a couple of them qualifying as ballads - but then again, that just means that the album has a broad appeal.

"Undeniable" is undeniably a tasty rock album which should appeal to fans of melodic AOR hard rock acts like Toto and Boston, and which is generally a very enjoyable listen.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)