I’ve been a big fan of Swiss band Gotthard for a while so when I heard about the new album from CoreLeoni I was keen to check it out. CoreLeoni is essential a project led by Gotthard guitarist and founder Leo Leoni which aims to re-visit and re-release tracks from the early Gotthard albums. The first CoreLeoni release is “The Greatest Hits Part 1” and it was issued via Frontiers Music on 23rd February. The album also includes a new track called “Walk on Water” which is featured on the NI Rocks A-Z Show on 27th February. “All I Care For” was included on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 23rd February.

 

 

 

Guitarist Leoni has teamed up with vocalist Ronnie Romero for the project. Romero is the Chilean lead singer for Lords of Black and he was also picked as the new Rainbow frontman by Ritchie Blackmore in 2017. Also involved in the project are Gotthard drummer Hena Habegger, guitarist Jgor Gianola (a former Gotthard member from 1992-95) and bass player Mila Merker.

 

The album kicks off with the “Love Theme from ‘The Godfather’” and the digital version then features another 12 tracks. From Gotthard’s self-titled 1992 debut album there are the tracks “Firedance”, “Downtown” and “All I Care For”. From “Dial Hard” (1994) there are “Higher”, “Get It While You Can” and “Here Comes The Heat”. From the 1996 album “G” we have “In The Name”, “Let It Be” and “Ride On”. Those first three Gotthard albums account for 9 of the 12 tracks. The other three tracks are “Tell No Lies” from “Open” (1999), “Anytime Anywhere” from “Lipservce” (2005) and the new track “Walk on Water”. The CD version of the album includes the track “El Traidor” (the Spanish version of “Anytime Anywhere”) which appeared as a bonus track on “Lipservice”.


These are great re-workings of the original Gotthard tracks and hopefully the album title infers that there will be a second instalment at a later date.

There is a Facebook page for CoreLeoni – https://www.facebook.com/coreleoni/

 

About “NI Rocks Recommends”

The simple idea behind “NI Rocks Recommends” is to acknowledge and promote some of the great music being submitted to Rock Radio NI. I'll not be giving marks or ratings or analyzing the tracks in great detail; just telling you something about the artist and the album. It’s a personal recommendation to go check something out, not a traditional “review”!

My musical tastes cover most things rock; from the not too melodic to the not too heavy. The albums that I’ll be recommending are those that you’ll hear me playing tracks from on my shows on Rock Radio NI.

 

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