Dion Bayman - 'Better Days'

(Art of Melody)

Australian melodic rocker Dion Bayman has been knocking about for a few years now releasing consistently strong melodic rock albums independently. For his latest album ‘Better Days’ he has been picked up by new Italian label Art of Melody, which as a long-time follower is pleasing to see as hopefully this will expose this artist to a wider audience.

I’ve always enjoyed Bayman’s emotion driven song writing and his keen ear for a catchy melody and yet again he hasn’t disappointed me. I’ve noticed an evolution in his song writing and it’s nice to witness an artist you enjoy develop and grow especially if he keeps your attention along the way. Bayman has developed a stronger guitar punch to his music than when I first discovered him, but this is not at the expense of melody or emotion or anything else that drew me to his songs in the first place. It pushes his music from singer songwriter territory akin to Richard Marx into a more general melodic hard rock field. Don’t worry though the core of his song writing remains true to those origins so it’s not a drastic evolution, just Bayman stretching his legs a bit.

He has always crafted emotional songs with immediate emotive impact that has made many of his songs extremely memorable and that continues here. Catchy infectious choruses are Bayman’s bread and butter and on ‘Better Day’s’ he pumps them out like a machine gun. His consistency with writing high quality songs helps make him stand out from the crowd as unlike some albums I’ve heard this year with two or three killer songs on, with Bayman you have a solid album full of knock outs!

Amongst the beefy guitar riffs we get plenty of smooth hook fuelled keyboards and Bayman’s trademark expressive vocal delivery. This collection of songs will delight genre fans with consummate ease.

I find it very easy to connect with Bayman’s songs and lyrics. I love the passionate nature of his song writing alongside the emotive music and vocal delivery. When it comes to music it’s albums like ‘Better Days’ that keep me entrenched in the melodic rock genre, these types of songs are the ones that resonate most deeply with me. I’ve heard a lot of good music this year but this definitely sits up the top as one of the best melodic rock releases of the year!

8/10

Essential Track - 'Pieces'

Review by Woody