Honeymoon Suite – Alive (Album Review)

The ‘80s was prime time for Rock-n-Roll that had anthemic choruses, razor sharp songwriting, and a larger-than-life sound. A great time for Heavy Metal, as well as Hard Rock, some bands sported the perfect blend of heaviness with Pop sensibility that created huge radio hits. You had those like Journey and Night Ranger in The States, but on the northern side of the continent, others like Canada’s Loverboy, Triumph, but also Honeymoon Suite.

Honeymoon Suite, originally formed in 1981, would go onto a run of success between their 1984 self-titled debut album and 1988’s Racing After Midnight. A time where the band racked up a list of highly charted singles, they even made their way onto various big soundtracks; including 1986’s One Crazy Summer with “What Does It Take,” 1987’s Lethal Weapon (performing the title-track), as well as onto Miami Vice in 1989, with “Bad Attitude.” Songs that stick in your memory, other unforgettable singles included 1984’s “New Girl Now,” 1986’s “Feel It Again,” as well as 1988’s “Love Changes Everything.”

In truth, it is hard to settle on just a few Honeymoon Suite tracks as your favorites, but all you can say is they all certainly left an impression. Unfortunately, since that time, there has been limited new material to emerge from the band. There was a shuffling of members, some reunions of original members here and there, but since the start of the new millennium, we have only seen them release three studio albums between 2001 and 2008. In fact, it has been sixteen long years since their last full-length, 2008’s Clifton Hill.

A long time ago, there has not been complete radio silence; because in March of 2017 they put out the EP called Hands Up. Full of some really nice tracks, Lead Vocalist/Guitarist Johnnie Dee and Lead Guitarist/Vocalist Derry Grehan felt the time was right once more to work up some new music for Honeymoon Suite just a couple of years thereafter. This time putting out the single “Tell Me What You Want” in the fall of 2019, more interest was mounting among fans… leading into the release of “Find What You’re Looking For” in 2020. In fact, the 2020 single resulted in Honeymoon Suite’s charting in the Canadian Billboard Top 30 for the first time in nearly two decades.

All quite exciting for fans, it would not be for almost another three years until any other music emerged; but it happened yet again in December of 2023 with the track “Alive.” Keeping fans curious over a near five-year period, good things come to those who wait, because on February 16, 2024 Honeymoon Suite are set to finally release a new album called Alive.  

Put out through Frontier Music s.r.l., Alive is ten songs in total (including “Tell Me What You Want,” “Find What You’re Looking For,” and “Alive”). Featuring Dee, Grehan, and classic lineup members Dave Betts (drums), Gary Lalonde (bass), along with Peter Nunn (keyboards), the material that makes up Alive is the result of writing/recording sessions between Dee and Grehan in collaboration with Mike Krompass. Looking at Krompass, he is a multi-platinum record producer, guitarist, and engineer who has worked with a list of others; including Theory of a Deadman and Three Days Grace. Important to mention, this will provide some insight to the more modern direction the band’s new music goes with Alive.  

Now, elaborating on the word ‘modern,’ if you have paid attention to what the band has done since the ‘80s era, it is not completely out of left field to find where this new music wanders. Still very much sounding like Honeymoon Suite at their core, there is still no question that there has been a steady progression in their sound over time. This progression has led to the formation of songs that are heavily melodic Rock, fresh for today’s world, but still with a propensity for a very large sound.

Fitting for an open-air stadium concert, Alive features a very full-bodied production that highlights each song’s melodic hooks, but also leaves a comfortable play for some great guitar solos as well. For example, “Alive” “Find What You’re Looking For,” and “Tell Me What You Want” are all equally addictive Modern Rock tunes with choruses that stick with you. However, these are only the tip of the iceberg, because other standouts in this collection include “Love Comes” “Broken,” and “Doesn’t Feel That Way.” Each of these drenched with Pop intuition, yet all very mature, they are perfect radio airplay; even in the present day where it seems as if radio has absent of any identity.

Overall, Alive is an album that is carefully written, produced, and performed. In all, there are plenty of heavier Rock guitars, plus airy melodies and chant-along choruses to go around here. That said, if this is your re-introduction to Honeymoon Suite after decades gone by, you will be pleasantly pleased with what you hear. And if you are someone new to the band, but are looking for some more current points of reference, if you enjoy guitar-driven Alternative Rock, you will love it too. A welcomed return from Honeymoon Suite, Cryptic Rock gives Alive 4.5 out of 5 stars.