HUMAN ZOO – Eyes Of The Stranger
German sextet with an unusual element to a conventional melodic hard rock sound – they employ a full time saxophone player in Boris Matakovic who handles as much solo action as guitarist Ingolf Engler. This third album “Eyes Of The Stranger” contains natural melodies and a music base similar to Pink Cream 69 and Bonfire with more of a West Coast AOR vibe.
Singer Thomas Seeburger carries a lot of material with his multi-octave range radio oriented offerings like “World Behind You” and Gotthard ballad-ish “Everything Changes”. There are times where keyboardist Zarko Mestrovic floats a little too close to the 80’s lightweight sprinkle tone on tracks like “Fall In Love” and “10,000 Years Ago”.
I guess those who enjoy the lighter side of hard rock may appreciate Human Zoo – to me though the vocals outshine the songwriting formula.