Gabrielle De Val and The Dragonlords - Tiger (2024)

Okay, first thing to state is that this is not the second Gabrielle de Val solo album. 'Cry Wolf' will still be getting released early in 2025. The original idea behind the 'Tiger' album was to be a collection of songs left of the original Gabrielle De Val debut 'Kiss In a Dragon Night,, along with different versions of songs that appeared on there. But all the singers and the label had such fun putting that album together that ever more songs were recorded, with many of the vocalists doing lead vocals themselves. All the singers that appear on this album also appeared on 'Kiss In a Dragon Night', hence the 'Dragonlords' group name. So along with originals by Gabrielle De Val like opener 'Think Like a Man', which she has been playing live for the past year, and 'I'm In Chains' - both songs written by Steve Overland and Tommy Denander, we also see Gabrille re-recording The Val classic 'Up To Where You Are' and doing duets with Elenor Asp on a wonderful version of ABBA's 'Tiger', and with Last In Line's Andrew Freeman on the classic Magnum song 'Midnight (You Won't Be Sleeping'). The other cover sees Seven's Mick Devine perform a superb rocked-up version of the Chesney Hawkes #1 hit 'The One And Only', complete with guitar solo from Fredrik Folkare (Nordic Union). MSG/Black Swan vocalist Robin McAuley takes lead on two original tracks, one of which, 'Bowmore', was specially written for this release. FMs Steve Overland does his usual superlative job on The Val's 'Pay For the Lonely Nights' while Mark Boals similarly does a great rendition of 'When Midnight Comes'. Artwork once again comes from the amazingly talented Gaetano de Falco, who of course did the cover for 'Kiss In a Dragon Night' as well as the Circle of Friends albums. The whole point of this album was just to have a great time with people who loved working together and share it with the fans. And the good news? There's enough songs left for a 2nd album!