It's never too late to acknowledge the talent. Here is a CD that was published nearly a year ago by the German record label Avenue Of Allies Music. Thankfully we received a copy of the album from Bertus so we have the opportunity to talk to you about Kurt Vereecke and Frozen Rain. And what's even more, Kurt is a guy from our little country...!!

Kurt Vereecke is not a newcomer in the music world since he wrote his first song at the age of 10 years. He began his musical career as guitarist and singer, but he soon discovered a passion for the keyboard. He toured around in Belgium with Rhyana whose single 'I have a dream' got a few passages on the national airwaves. After several years of touring in different bands the keyboardist recorded some of his own compositions for a solo project and was offered a contract by Long Island Records. Unfortunately, due to the premature termination of the activities of the label, the album could not see the light of day. Disappointed by this failure, Kurt decided to do something quite different. He recorded three double CDs of songs for children and wrote books for music teachers. But the big dream of Mr. Vereecke was to record an album in the purest tradition of AOR and Melodic Rock. In 2001 he began writing songs for what would become "Frozen Rain".

To cope with his project our friend Kurt used some of his personal idols like the famous Swedish guitar player Tommy Denander (known from Radioactive), guitarist Jim Santos (Norway) and Daniel Flores, the drummer of the Swedish progressive band Mind's Eye. The songs are sung by various vocalists, including the Belgian Johan Waem which is a famous pop artist on the other side of the linguistic border.

As expected we are dealing here with an album of great AOR and a clear production that we could hear a lot in the late eighties. If you loved Giant, House Of Lords, The Storm, Shy, Alien, Skagarack and Fair Warning, there is no doubt that 'Frozen Rain' is an album for you. Of course, the compositions of Kurt Vereecke have lots of keys but they also leave plenty of room for six-strings and in particular guitar solos of the magnificent Denander. The vocalists, famous or not, are all of excellent standard.

The "Frozen Rain" album is a highly recommendable one for all fans of AOR, FM, Melodic Rock, West Coast or simply Rock! The Japanese were not mistaken as the CD scored 88/100 in the legendary Burnn magazine. In these times of crisis, it is good to know that we can export our excellent 'Belgian music'.

Review by Michel Serry