Artist: Ten
Album: The Twilight Chronicles
Label: Frontiers
Genre: Melodic Hard Rock
Catnr: n/a
source: CDDA
rip.date: Jul-06-2006
str.date: Aug-25-2006
quality: VBR/44,1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Size: 114,6 MB
Url: n/a

Tracks:

01. The Prologue / Rome                           
02. The Chronicles                                
03. The Elysian fields                          
04. Hallowed Ground                              
05. This Heart Goes On                           
06. Oblivion                                   
07. The Twilight Masquerade                     
08. Tourniquet                                    
09. Born To The Grave                             
10. When This Night Is Done/The Epilogue

Release Notes:

Considered by many fans and critic as the best expression of British hard rock in the nineties: TEN was the brainchild of Gary Hughes, a singer-songwriter from the North of England. As a solo artist he released until then three albums: ?Big Bad Wolf? (1989), ?Strength of Heart? (1991) and ?Gary Hughes? (1993). In 1995 Gary began to write what he thought would be two new solo albums, but in 1996 he was joined on the recordings by former Dare members Vinny Burns and Greg Morgan. The sound thus became more band-oriented and the band TEN was born. Veteran producer, Mike Stone, was brought in to oversee and mix and the first of the albums, and the band?s self-titled debut album, was finished. The album was warmly acclaimed by the fans and press, especially in the UK and Japan. After less than one year came "The Name Of the Rose", still today considered by many as the Ten?s best album to date. The title track was voted ?Song Of The Year? by the readers of BURRN! In Japan. The band was then completed with John Halliwell (guitar), Ged Rylands (keyboards) and Shelley (also from DARE on bass). The following album, "The Robe" was a huge step forward in the sound of TEN, leading strongly towards epic and majestic atmospheres and influences. Songs like the title track, "Arcadia" and "Ten Fathoms Deep" are considered to be amongst the best expressions of the British hard rock of the 90's. But their major commercial success - especially in Europe - came with their following album: ?Spellbound?, in 1999. The record had all the elements which decreed the vast success of TEN within the hard rock fans: melody and class, but also power and epic atmospheres, inherited by the tradition of the British bands of the 70's such as RAINBOW, THIN LIZZY and U.F.O. A few line-up changes (most notably Steve McKenna taking on bass duties and Don Airey and Paul Hodson later on keyboards) did not really change the musical styles and success of the band that also gathered a great exposure and acclaim with the following release ?Babylon?, a concept album based on a futuristic story of a computer programmer and his tragic love affair. The following two records ?Far Beyond The World? (2001) and ?Return to Evermore? (2004, which saw the debut of the new guitar ace Chris Francis, taking the place of Vinny Burns) served only to solidify the band?s reputation for great music and exquisite arrangements in great melodic hard rock fashion. To mark the band?s 10th anniversary, a two disc album ?The Essential Collection? was issued in January 2006, comprising the best Rockers and Ballads re-recorded in the style of how the band currently play their music. Ten?s most recent appearance was in March this year at the Atarfe Vega Rock Festival in Spain, where they appeared to great critical acclaim along side WASP and STRYPER. Steve McKenna and Lee Morris joined the band?s permanent members ? Gary Hughes, Chris Francis, John Halliwell and Paul Hodson - for the concert. Ten?s latest album is ?The Twilight Chronicles?. It is a mixture of rock and ballads with a strong atmospheric mood and lyrics that tell tales of love, lust, death, glory, revenge and darkness. American session drummer, Frank Basile, plays drums on the album this time around and the album itself is stronger and more epic than ever before. Once again the album has been penned by Gary Hughes, who consistently delivers songs of immense quality and who must in fact rate amongst the worlds most accomplished and consistent songwriters for the last decade. The album is quite simply `Cinematic`. It features mighty orchestral passages and boasts all the usual opus of hooks, riffs, haunting melodies and themes that is always expected and associated with any Ten release. In creating this new album they have raised the standard once again for all other bands of their ilk. Ten have now entered their second decade at the top of their genre, and with albums and material of this calibre they will surely be there for a great many years to come. The current Ten line up circa May 2006 is; Gary Hughes ? Vocals Chris Francis ? Guitars John Halliwell ? Guitars Paul Hodson ? Keyboards

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