NINE-T-NINE – Keep The Flame Alive

It has been too long since AOR received a respected stature in the Rock / Metal world. In past years, it has been AOR, which inspired and planted the roots of the all too mushy Love themes to Rock and Metal music. To some extent, it’s a bit euphoric to chant about the lovely life of he and she and other over emotional issues that have connections to that theme.

Keep The Flame Alive is something that the public world of Rock shouldn’t take for granted in any way. This album by the German AOR band, Nine-T-Nine, is a release that has spirit and style that is hard to obtain in these modern days of part-time world suffering and injustice. Through Whiterock Records, Nine-T-Nine is bringing back the golden American days of softness next to the melody of the keyboards alongside sunken guitar rhythms.

Nine-T-Nine, who started out ten years ago, has taken an important expedition on creating a sub-genre that was slowly coming down over the years. Their music is mostly keyboard driven, with an almost non-existent guitar involvement (maybe for simple soft rhythms and several prime stage solos of emotions) and a set of the well-known pattern of vocals filled with depth and passion that were the gifts of the 80s. In 2004, the band made their point with Live, their first live album. This album reached far into the United States and four years later, the band issued, through an American label from California, one of their most successful singles, which is also a part of their studio album, the track “Sandy”. This song is what all 80s AOR lovers were craving for all those years and it’s very much similar as if one was listening to a soundtrack of a classic 80s movie (check out the soundtracks of Karate Kid and Commando for prime examples).

When Whiterock Records and Nine-T-Nine released Keep The Flame Alive, it was, as expected, acclaimed as a great display of AOR through German hands yet with the guidance of the American way. Listening to Nine-T-Nine is like snooping through old records of Journey, old Bon Jovi, Rio and countless others that were stars back in the day. Keep The Flame Alive, as a title, is what is clearly stated – AOR is here and it will survive as one of the oldest sub-genres of Rock. As said before, there aren’t too many bands such as Nine-T-Nine anymore. When listening to a band like this, the listener may take a short leave from the real life of hardships and pains to a different set of life, and sometimes euphoric figures, of love and harmony.

Step into the world of “Sandy”, the southern like story of “Shoreline”, the banal yet undying loving of “Light My Life”, “Bringing My Love” and the lovely “Can You Feel All The Days”, jumpy AORs like “Sunshine” and the Bon Jovi feel of “Caught In The Trap” (A “Runaway” remake or what?). Finally, there is that funny yet interesting track of “Radio” that is very different from other stuff lying around.

Experience the flame of Nine-T-Nine and its heat and be sure to help them keep it warm as they progress to their next album.