KHYMERA – Hold Your Ground (Album Review)

Sometimes a band comes into your life that just resonates with you. Khymera is one of those bands for me. Their latest release, Hold Your Ground from Frontiers Music SRL is no different.

Meaning in a Name

First things first… What is a Khymera? It is defined as terrifying creatures, literally born from an intelligent being’s nightmares. I am doubtful their music will give you nightmares. but the real nightmare is not knowing what this band is or its music.

A Brief Background

Khymera began back in the early 2000s from the mind of Pink Cream 69 founder and bass player, Dennis Ward. It is a Melodic Hard Rock, AOR project that has been putting out some fantastic music of this genre. I for one love it just as much as the teased hair music of the late eighties and early nineties. Hold Your Ground is their fifth album, and probably IMO the best thing since my favourite album, The Grand Design (until now!) from the Khymera camp.

Melodic Doesn’t Mean AM Radio Crap

When you mention “Melodic Rock” or “AOR” to some they immediately think AM Radio garbage. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Khymera – Hold Your Ground is a true masterpiece of guitars, drums, bass, and vocals all coming together to give the listener a journey outside of themselves. Not every song needs to give a person neck strain from the banging up and down.

Past and FutureDennis Ward

Not every album from Khymera has been a home run for me. Master of Illusions from 2022 was good but just didn’t stick with me like their previous release from 2015, The Grand Design. That one hasn’t left my playlist since that first listen. Now I feel that Hold Your Ground will remain beside it for the foreseeable future as well. I just hope that any future releases just don’t take as long to come.

Hold Your Ground

Eleven tracks totaling around 41 minutes of pure glorious harmonies, and hooks that just drag you into each song. The singles available are “Firestarter” and “Hear Me Calling”. If those tracks weren’t enough to pull you into the Khymera fan circle, then might I suggest you go back and try once again? Other than the two singles you have great standout tracks like “Runaway”, “Don’t Wait for Love” and “Hear What I’m Saying”. Sometimes some of the best songs on an album aren’t always singles that get pushed out to the public.

Psychotic Thoughts

Just a side story here, I can personally remember trying to find a physical copy of The Grand Design. I stood in a local Sunrise Records asking for Khymera, and they kept sending me to the Death Metal Section (There is a death metal band with the same name) and I kept telling them it was the wrong band. They refused to even look it up on their computers because they swore it was the same band. Begging them to check under The Grand Design, sure enough, they didn’t carry it. Asking if they could get it in, and they said that if it is not in their extensive system then the band didn’t exist,and I was crazy, (yes, they actually said that!). Pulling out my iPhone and showed them the band in my playlist, they said it was fake!

WOW…Just wow. Needless to say, I no longer shop at Sunrise!

Keep On Rocking

Trevor “Psychoone” McDougall

Tracks:

  1. Don’t Wait For Love
  2. Firestarter
  3. Hear Me Calling
  4. Sail On Forever
  5. Our Love Is Killing Me
  6. Hear What I’m Saying
  7. Believe In What You Want
  8. On The Edge
  9. Could Have Been Us
  10. Runaway
  11. Am I Dreaming

Band:

  • Dennis Ward – Lead Vocals, Bass, Keyboards
  • Michael Klein – Guitars
  • Eric Ragno – Keyboards
  • Michael Kolar – Drums
  • Pete Newdeck – Backing Vocals

BUY Khymera: Amazon.ca / Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk

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Furthermore, check out all my reviews: Trevor’s Archives

Email Me at Trevor “Psychoone” McD

 

 

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