A promising start from Joey Summer.

'Written On The Horizon’ marks the first album to feature all English lyrics from Brazilian vocalist and guitarist Joey Summer and, aside from a number of compositions written with his long time keyboard player and collaborator Daniel Lamas, he is helped out on songwriting duties by Michael Bormann, former Europe guitarist Kee Marcello and the Street Talk duo of Goran Edman and Fredrik Bergh. Summer has been playing in bands since the age of 14 and is perhaps best known for the short lived AOR band Arena who released just one album but marked the beginning of his partnership with Lamas, who has an integral role in ‘Written On The Horizon’. By choosing to not sing in his native tongue, Summer has stepped outside of his comfort zone in an attempt to broaden his appeal and whilst for the most part he acquits himself well enough there are occasions when he seems to struggle, albeit this is an area he will doubtless become more at ease with in the longer term. 

There is a nice balance here between direct rockers, mid-tempo chuggers and power ballads with Lamas playing a large part in the overall keyboard enriched sounds that enlivens the explosive opener ‘Rise Up’ and the Bormann penned ‘Anymore’. The two Street Talk covers are ‘Don’t Believe’ and ‘Tables Turning’ with Edman and Bergh also contributing backing vocals and keyboards to the former which has a more powerful delivery than the original but retains the strong melody and anthem-like harmonies. Marcello‘s song is saved for the end of the album with the bittersweet ballad ‘Rough Ride To Paradise’ which is again highlighted by Lamas’ keys and harmony vocals with Summer also chipping in with a brief but sparkling solo. The use of outside contributors ensures that Written on the Horizon is a solid and consistent effort albeit these highlights do tend to overshadow Summer and Lamas’ own material with songs such as ‘Beating’ and ‘Brand New Day’ not really scaling the same heights. Overall this is a promising start from Summer as he embarks on the next phase of his career and hints at a bright future.

Dean Pedley