Revolution Saints / Eagle Flight a high-octane melodic rock treat

April 21, 2023

Revolution Saints soar new heights in Eagle Flight. Powerhouse vocals & high-octane melodies. Join Deen Castronovo, Joel Hoekstra & Jeff Pilson for an AOR treat

In Frontiers Music, after 27 years of churning out copious amounts of melodic hard rock bands, supergroup Revolution Saints are hands down one of their best creations. With three consistently enjoyable albums under the original line-up of Deen Castronovo (Journey), Jack Blades (Nightranger) and Doug Aldrich (The Dead Daisies), this fourth release sees them return with new personal and a fresh barrel of high-octane melodic tuneage.

Revolution Saints – Eagle Flight (Frontiers Music Srl)

Release Date: 21 April 2023

Words: Brian Boyle

With lead vocalist and drummer Castronovo still the focal point, joining the ranks is Whitesnake guitar virtuoso Joel Hoekstra and legendary Dokken and Foreigner bassist Jeff Pilson. Not bad replacements, eh?

And what a way to introduce them. Opener and title track, Eagle Flight, sets the bar ridiculously high with a hook-soaked banger. The following hat-trick of Talking Like Strangers, Kids Will Be Kids and gutsy ballad I’ll Cry For You Tonight all match the standard set with radio-friendly choruses and hit qualities plastered all over them.

While Castronovo is better known for his exploits as a tub-thumper for Journey, The Dead Daisies, Bad English and Wild Dogs, to name a few, vocally, he’s still relatively under the radar as far as mainstream critical acclaim goes. Quite simply, this guy can bloody sing and could comfortably wipe the floor with the majority of full-time rock vocalists of past and present.

Obviously, decades sat behind a kit has kept his pipes match fit, but you still have to revel in his addictive rasp when he’s in full flow on Crime Of The Century and Set Yourself Free, both pure driven AOR.

Revolution Saints - Eagle Flight - Out Now — Revolution Saints – Eagle Flight – Out Now

Production wise, the album doesn’t distinguish itself from any other that Alessandro Del Vecchio has done for Frontiers. Every element breathes perfectly without a hint of spontaneity, and that includes his always impressive keyboards. But in truth, these tunes wouldn’t suit the ‘plug it in, let’s go’ approach, especially on the exquisitely squishy Once More.

Listening to all action closer Save It All, it’s hard not to think of the average vocal ability of current Journey singer Arnell Pineda and who’s banging the tom-toms behind him and have a little wonder.

But hey, with Revolution Saints, we get Castronovo on tap, and along with the well-travelled rhythm of Jeff Pilson and the six-string heroics of Joel Hoekstra, they’ve given melodic rock aficionados a real treat.