Two Tales Of One Tomorrow

One of the best things to come from my experience writing for Metal Reviews is to unexpectedly come across a new band/project that you had never heard before, only to be surprised and so impressed with the quality that you blindly check out each and every subsequent release with great anticipation. One of those particular bands is Cornerstone, whose Human Stain album back in 2002 turned out to be the soundtrack of my summer that year. The 70's melodic feel complete with the Rainbow, Deep Purple guitar/keyboard blend and the amazing, soulful voice of Doogie White (Yngwie Malmsteen) got me hooked right away. The fact that Doogie also did the vocals for the excellent Stranger In Us All album by Rainbow in the 90's obviously had an impact on the music that he continued to write and along with collaborator Steen Mogensen (Royal Hunt), the two have formed a solid partnership in one of the best melodic hard rock acts around today.

Human Stain was the sort of album that had no filler tracks but with a couple of definite standouts. The follow-up album Once Upon Our Yesterdays was another solid album but saw a slightly more modern approach and a darker overall feel. With their fourth album to date, Two Tales Of One Tomorrow, Cornerstone has gone back to the Rainbow, Deep Purple influenced melodic hard rock with an album that could arguably be their best album yet.

Right from the top, we get three very solid tracks with the classic Rainbow feel. Misery, with it's up tempo style and great blend of heavy riffs with keyboards, is the perfect vehicle for Doogie White's strong, soulful voice. One Man's Hell continues with more chunkier riffs and great melodic hooks with Mother Of Mercy quite possibly being a candidate for one of their best songs ever. With it's heavy, hypnotic feel, it invokes a David Coverdale era Deep Purple vibe and is instantly likeable. Doogie's soaring and soulful singing gives the track somewhat of a classic 70's feel and in particular, material by such heavyweights as Uriah Heep and Bad Company. The title track Two Tales Of One Tomorrow, uses Eastern instruments and melodies for a great atmospheric effect in a neo-classically flavored track that also features some great slicing guitar riffs. Other highlights include Pray, another mid tempo track with heavy guitar and keyboard blended riffs that also features some great lead guitar and synthesizer soloing. Starlight Symphony gets the full Kill The King Rainbow treatment with it's speedy almost power metal style, awesome vocals by Doogie and Michael Schenker-like riffing by guitarist Kasper Damagaard. The Dance sees the band straying into Dio territory with it's slow, pounding and hypnotic heavy riffs and they take it one step further with the track We Are The Dead having qualities of Dio-era Black Sabbath. Doogie White just wails on this track that slowly builds in intensity and with one of his best vocals on the album, it's a great finisher to another great album by this band. Special mention must be made to Steen Mogensen's production job with this album. This band has never sounded better. Guitarist Kasper Damagaard does an outstanding job and his very tasteful soloing and lead fills are the icing on the cake for many of the tracks on this album. Wuthering Heights keyboardist Rune S. Brink provides the keyboard "muscle" on this album giving it a decidedly stronger keyboard presence than previous efforts.

Well...another blind buy if you're a fan of this band. If you haven't yet checked them out and are familiar with Doogie White's work with the last couple of Yngwie Malmsteen albums and are a fan of great, energetic melodic hard rock in the Rainbow, Deep Purple style, this band is a must!! It might take a few more listens before I can put it head to head with Human Stain as far as which album is better nonetheless, Cornerstone has delivered another solid effort with a style that they seem to be much more comfortable with. Although the melodic sense as well as the guitar riffs/keyboard blend gives the band a decidedly 70's feel, they have a fresh, energetic sound and don't sound dated even in the slightest. You'd be hard pressed to find a better writing partnership than the one with Steen Mogensen and Doogie White. They have a solid grasp on writing excellent melodic hard rock and have developed Cornerstone into one of the best in the genre.