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HARDLINE

Score: 2.5 out of 5 Battle-Axes (more about rating system)

The first Hardline release, Double Eclipse, is unquestionably one of my favorite all time commercial rock cds. There was a nice mixture of rockers and well-written ballads brought together with superlative production. Unfortunately, the latter ingredient is what's missing from this live performance, making it in one of the most disappointing releases I've heard in quite some time. While I refrain from issuing a turd alert, the overall sound quality of Live At The Gods Festival 2002 is one of the worst I've heard in ages. It's too bad because the set list is nearly a perfect mix of the debut and 2002's II, which we reviewed here, and the band members are experienced and talented enough for this to be a five-axe release. Obviously, there wasn't an attempt to go into the studio and overdub vocals or instrumentation, which is fine for a band that should sound raw, but in this case, the lack of polish really hurts Hardline's performance. It's almost as if the band recorded a half-assed practice session with an open-air microphone and then layered some crowd noise over the music. To add insult to injury, the three new studio tracks that close the disc are less than overwhelming. They all have a mid-tempo, mellow pace that does not fit the hard rock style of the band. If Hardline decides to record another disc, I hope they return to their roots and deliver catchy hard rock songs with big production, otherwise they will join the growing list of bands that should probably call it a day. (Lynn Phillips)

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