TWO OF A KIND – Two Of A Kind

Melodic Rock is the main focus for Two Of A Kind’s homonymous debut album that is being released through Frontier Records. Two Of A Kind was born in the mind of Fred Hendrix who is known for his contribution to Terra Nova as the main songwriter and singer. He has done additional work with the Pop/Rock oriented Aquila by releasing two studio albums exclusively in Japan. Fred became interested in production and songwriting and to do so he needed a fresh band.

Frontiers President and Art director Serafino Perugino helped Fred to choose the musicians to form Two Of A Kind. Their most interesting idea had to do with the place behind the microphone; for this, they chose two female singers (maybe this is why the Two Of A Kind name came up): Esther Brouns and Anita Craenmehr. The ladies had previous experience in the Dutch Rock scene with Anita being part of Night Shade and Fast Forward, and Esther having sung in various cover-bands. The promising line-up comprises the Terra Nova members Gesuino Derosas on guitar, Hans Iin‘t Zandt on drums, and Fred’s brother Ron on the keyboards.

The idea of having two female singers would work better if only the ladies had different voices: it is really difficult to distinguish them and this can be done with the former knowledge of their existence. “Whole Again” is a classic and uplifting old-school rocker with groovy rhythm guitars matching the vocals and some nicely put keyboard melodies that perfectly fit the guitar leads. The album’s tracklist features some poppy and easy-going tunes like “To The Top” and “Give A Reason” that have some Melodic Country finishing touches, especially with the vocal lines. The band sounds its best during the fast and Hard Rock oriented tracks, like the album opener “Light In The Dark” and the keyboard driven “Little By Little.” The slower and Pop-like songs like the cheesy “Give A Reason” or the ballad “Unbearable” sound too mainstream and mellow. The guitar-keyboard duet in “To The Top” has something from the American Hard Rock sound in the Van Halen style, while the excellent guitar work in the power ballad “I Die A Little More Everyday” closes Two Of A Kind’s debut release.

Fred Hendrix has done excellent work to the production of the album that has a clear sound with the two female voices in the spot light.

Overall, this is a pretty good album, especially for all the fans of Melodic Hard Rock that keep their eyes and ears open for all the Frontiers Record releases that in their majority come from this music genre.