Salute

Following the moderately successful Lonely at Night album, Orphan responded two years later with Salute, only this time around the band traded in their edgy rock approach for a sound that was made up of expressionless, hollowed-out glitz and going-nowhere lyrics. "Open Up the Skies" wins out as the most favorable effort, with a strong vocal presence from Chris Burke and a buzz saw guitar riff that appropriately accents the synthesizer. After this, the album begins to show signs of musical dilapidation, as songs like "Crazy for the Night," "Uncle Sam Wants You," and "Old Enough to Know" ride on cliched, rock riffed emptiness and witless hair band conformity. Burke's tangents are aimless, and what could have been some palatable keyboard/guitar rock turns into insubstantial heavy metal wandering. Montreal's Aldo Nova tries to resurface things a bit with his guitar solo on "Steel & Iron" but falls short, and bottomless anthems like "Stand Up" and "The Way It Should Be" lack atmosphere or even the mildest hint of direction. Orphan's predecessor, 1983's Lonely at Night sparked some appeal both in it's lyrics and in it's guitar rant, but Salute shows no sign of that album's traits whatsoever. All of Orphan's albums are out of print. ~ Mike DeGagne