The fact that Tony Mill’s voice does not succumb to the passage of time, still remaining an eternal diamond has been noted regularly and will continue to, being an axiom for fans of melodic rock/AOR genre. Years after his classics with Shy, Tony needs no rest and in parallel to his main occupation, the Norwegian heroes TNT (whose recent albums do not seems in par with their best), he never ceases to enter several projects adding integrity with his unique voice and performance. I can remember China Blue’s Twilight Of Destiny (2008) or the more recent State of Rock’s A Point Of Destiny” and coming to this present release, Serpentine’s A Touch Of Heaven.

The British Serpentine are the new blood of the English melodic scene and this is nothing less than agreeable for a country that destroys its own kin and the new sounds that they created during the past decades. Of course, the artist is judged by its work and that’s what we will do from now on. Historically speaking, Serpentine are a creation of  Gareth David Noon (keyboards), Christopher Gould (guitars) and Gareth Van Stone (bass). Their name does not derive, as many would expect, from the Halloween heritage, but draws inheritance from the ancient legendary beast. With the contribution of the American Greg Flores, originally at the vocals spot, the final choice (based on location I presume) was Tony Mills who leaves no room for doubt.

Centering on Mill’s voice and the usual melodic/AOR tempos, “Touch Of Heaven”  is full of energy and will for something fresh, however the compositions fails to impress. This might sound harsh, so lets step back a bit and say that all of the songs are well performed and with an interesting plot. The main con, though, is that after you listen to them, you are left with some kind of…nothing. All songs, actually, sound similar and there were times that I felt like I was listening to different song versions for a reason. It’s either Mills that covers everything (even if he sounds a bit repetitive in some parts), or it is the rest of the crew that fails to present a certain personality. The nice production by Mark Stuart also fails to preserve the balance between the vocals and the instruments and this might be a factor too.

If we have to look for highlights, we would have to mention “Let Love Rain Down”, “Whatever Heartache”, “Lonely Nights” and “Fashion”. Also the arrangement for  Tony Braxton’s “Unbreak My Heart” is somehow special bringing the original to Serpentine’s turf. Which turf is very akin to Styx, Magnum and Asia but also to the more traditional dynamic AOR of Shy (especially when it comes to rhythms and solos), binding the past of such legends with a more contemporary production that could sound interesting to younger generations. So, yes, we can invest in Serpentine but we are not stunned. And there’s always the people that will say: “Come on, yet another Tony Mills project?…”