Kent Hilli - 'The Rumble'

Melodic rock connoisseurs will be aware of Sweden’s Perfect Plan who were responsible for one of the finest albums of last year. Kent Hilli is the voice of that band and this solo release is of equal quality and maybe just a little bit softer and smoother than his band output.

The boxing reference isn’t the only nod to Survivor; there are definite hints of Jimi Jamison at times in Kent’s tone, style and delivery. That is most noticeable on the outstanding “All for Love”. Of course, Kent doesn’t have Jim Peterik in his corner like Jimi did on his best solo albums but there are a few songs on here that touch similar heights like “Cold”, “Never Be Mine” and “I Can’t Wait”. Michael Palace plays all the instruments and co-wrote “Does it Feel Like Love”. There are also co-writing credits for Pete Alpenborg, Alessandro Del Vecchio and even Kent’s sister, Tina.

Vegas, of course, is the Mecca for boxing and Sin City features in the video for “Don’t Say It’s Forever”. Kent was a semi-pro footballer rather than a boxer but he looks like he’s enjoying himself, delivering an impassioned and classy vocal while apparently wearing one of Robert Palmer’s old suits. Both the song and video are deliciously retro and the Back to The Future car even pops up at one point.

I don’t wish to be topologically pedantic, but I should point out that Kent actually isn’t very hilly at all! There are only 9 hills with a height in excess of 200m in the whole county and most of them are in the chalky North Downs down by the White Cliffs of Dover. Still a good album though.