Ailafar
No Limits
AOR Boulevard Records
2015
Ailafar is the personal music project of guitarist & songwriter John Tzortzis, which too shape back in 2006 and released its debut album in 2012. Now, three years later, John is back with his second and more ambitious work entitled “No Limits”. On this album, John has by his side: Tasos Economou on drums, Kostas Mauroudis on bass and Periklis Kotoulas on piano/keys. The guest musicians on the album are: Tatiana Oikonomou on vocals (tracks 2, 3, 6, 12), Stephan Kammerer (Frontline, Stereotide) on vocals (tracks 1, 5), Paul Jackson (Roadhouse – Pete Willis band) on vocals (tracks 7, 11), David A. Saylor (Push UK) on vocals (track 8), Alexandra Mckay on vocals (tracks 9, 10), Olga Katsenidou on vocals (tracks 4, 12, 13), Elisabeth Mari on backing vocals (Track 12), Strutter on bass (tracks 1, 10, 11, 12, 13) & keys (tracks 10, 13), Kostas Domenikiotis on bass (tracks 6, 8), Chris Koutsouris on drums (track 12) and Apostolos Mousias on drums (tracks 10, 11, 13). Quite a list huh?! All the performances are great; both the male & the female voices are wonderful!
The album was recorded and mixed by Chris Dannys, with additional recordings by Stratos (Strutter), mastered by Mitch Malloy and produced by John Tzortzis. The production is warm & smooth. This is exactly the sound that a melodic rock/AOR album should have but with a fresh touch, without sounding “retro” whatsoever.
“No Limits” is a melodic rock/AOR album with pop-rock and hard rock touches, which can please the majority of the rock fans, as it features various tracks for all kind of tastes. Several songs can and will certainly have some airplay in the next months. Every song has been worked methodically and with detail by John and that’s more than obvious when listening to the album. Even though the album lasts about 62 minutes (and it’s too long for a melodic rock/AOR work), it doesn’t bore the listener at any point. Moreover the change of singers (from male to female and vice versa) offers a nice variety overall. I think that “No Limits” is the album, which will put Ailafar on the “premiere league” of melodic rock/AOR music and will give them the chance to go further and be more known to a wider audience, cuz they are totally worth it…
The album was recorded and mixed by Chris Dannys, with additional recordings by Stratos (Strutter), mastered by Mitch Malloy and produced by John Tzortzis. The production is warm & smooth. This is exactly the sound that a melodic rock/AOR album should have but with a fresh touch, without sounding “retro” whatsoever.
“No Limits” is a melodic rock/AOR album with pop-rock and hard rock touches, which can please the majority of the rock fans, as it features various tracks for all kind of tastes. Several songs can and will certainly have some airplay in the next months. Every song has been worked methodically and with detail by John and that’s more than obvious when listening to the album. Even though the album lasts about 62 minutes (and it’s too long for a melodic rock/AOR work), it doesn’t bore the listener at any point. Moreover the change of singers (from male to female and vice versa) offers a nice variety overall. I think that “No Limits” is the album, which will put Ailafar on the “premiere league” of melodic rock/AOR music and will give them the chance to go further and be more known to a wider audience, cuz they are totally worth it…