Atom Records/Cargo
Austria´s CORNERSTONE is in the business of 80´s pop/rock with lots of AOR, big guitars and big refrains. Formed in 1998 by bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Michael Wachelhofer and his brother guitarist/vocalist Steve, the band started out playing covers. The band soon tried their wings, resulting in a near collapse until vocalist Hanna Wachter came along in 2004. The new line up recorded their debut “Head Over Heels”. Many changes seem to have occurred before today´s line up of the founding brothers, drummer and percussionist Mike Pawlowitsch and vocalist Patricia Hillinger came to be. Press and and radio seem to favor CORNERSTONE, this sounds interesting…
In my world CORNERSTONE are a middle-of-the-road band. The song material often has a stable beat, but the killer refrains and true spark seems to be missing. The main highlights are few, I´d chose the classic AOR of “Like a Stranger”, the distantly possible hit “Right or Wrong” or the storytelling of “Strut”. But the rather lackluster pop of the majority of the material takes more charisma and identity to break the band big time. I wish for more variation and some more tracks (with stronger refrains) in the vein of “High and Low”. I don´t think Santa will deliver too many of these in gift wrapping.
Track List
Stay
Rise and Shine
Breathing for You
Right or Wrong
Like a Stranger
Follow You, Follow Me
Being Unaware
Oblivious
High and Low
Strut
www.atomrecords.com www.myspace.com/cornerstoneaustria
