Reviews

Are you ready! Fasten your seatbelts and prepare yourself for a ride into some classic hard rock territories. I will not spend any time at all in this review to give you Takara..s whole history (you can find it anywhere around the globe). I will focus on the main things instead. Takara are one of these bands that dig its way into your heart and once they get there, they stay forever. This band and their music is one of the main reasons why i ended up being a melodic rock lover. I love this band. With Takara you always get the best of everything, strong melodies, powerful solos and a suitable classic melodic hard rock voice on top of it all. "Invitation To Forever" have the word "winner" written all over it. It doesn..t matter if you push the random button while listening. The songs that poures out of your speakers are all up there - among the clouds. This is the music you want to have in your car driving down the alley or in your headphones before falling into sleep. Warning! You will wake up with a big smile on your face.
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Gus Monsanto suits these hard rocking songs down to the ground and he reminded me at times of Dee Snider! Songs like 'Spotlight' (lyrics by Jeff Scott Soto and originally found on the band's 'Eternal Faith' album) are simply stunning, bringing to mind Joe Lynn Turner era Rainbow and Hardline, this particular songs features some immense keyboards and guitars. 'Angel Of Lies' and 'Place Under The Sun' both have catchy choruses and more hooks than a fishing contest! Only 'Looking For salvation' fails to hit the spot for me as the chorus gets repeated a bit too often detracting from the song. Only one ballad on here, 'This Photograph' which sees the harmonies set to max and this is a very strong song throughout. As Neal Grusky wrote most of the songs on here he doesn't overload them with needless guitar solos like say Axel Rudi Pell does, which makes for a stronger set of songs as a result
www.hotdigits.co.uk/cgi-bin/diary2/journal?user=jason

The first thing that caught my eye when I finally had a review copy of “Invitation …” in my hands, was the brilliant cover artwork of Guilherme Sevens, who also created the brand-new Takara website. A second thing was the line-up who recorded this fifth studio album. Keyboard player Brook Hansen seems to be the only survivor from the last line-up, which means that Grusky introduces a new rhythm section as well as a new lead vocalist. With Bjorn Englen on bass and Patrick Johansson on drums, he surely invited some seasoned musicians, as we know both gentlemen from their work with Yngwie Malmsteen. On lead vocals we have Gus Monsanto, known from Adagio and Revolution Renaissance among others. Between him and band leader Grusky there was a good writing chemistry, which has led to a better album than the last one. Not all of the twelve tracks on offer blow me away though, but cuts like “Angels Of Lies”, “Spotlight” (my favourite) and “Still A Mystery” show what this pair has in store for future albums
www.rockreport.be/review.asp?id=2263

After several successful albums over the last few years Takara is yet returning with a new and fresh release. Invitation to Forever is Takara’s new album release that I’m talking about. The album consists of ten well written tracks with different variation of instruments. Gustavo Monsanto and Co. has recorded an album with lots of progressive elements combined with nice melodic hard rock. The music goes very well with the soft sound and the clear voice let by Gustavo and Jeff. Invitation to Forever is a bit heavier and has more edge than the previous albums from Takara. There are some very clear and strong guitar and bass riffs as well as fast drums. Tracks are both fast and soft power ballads, which sounds very good by the way. The lyrics are amazing, but some of the tracks remind me at some point of each other too much. Invitation to Forever also features an extraordinary reunion of Jeff Scott Soto on back-up vocals. It has been about 10 years since Jeff has last appeared on any Takara albums, so it is nice to have his strong vice again on a Takara record. So; buy the album and let Takara invite you to their world. A damn good progressive album with bombastic, complex and long songs.
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Well, this is obviously THE come back that will shock all the fans of Hard Rock and traditional Heavy Metal. TAKARA have returned with a new album, seven years after their previous “Perception Of Reality” release. It is not only the reactivation of this great band form North Hollywood, California that makes us all so happy. It is the fact that they simply have managed to release the best Hard Rock / Traditional Heavy Metal record of 2008... “Invitation To Forever” is one of those records that really remains into your mind not only due to the inspired songwriting of the band, but also due to the excellent instrument performances of the musicians and the crystal clear production. For me it is a huge ‘must’ for all the fans of Hard Rock and Traditional heavy Metal, so do not miss it for all the gold of the world!
www.metal-invader.com/db/reviews-5536.html

TAKARA (for those non-familiar with the band in prior) is centered around the Sacramento, California resident guitarist Neal Grusky. Featuring none other than the exceptional voice of Jeff Scott Soto in their first three albums - all a ’must have’ for fans of the genre - TAKARA gained grand success in Japan mainly, with eventual recognition in Europe too. 2001’s "Perception Of Reality" (Lion Music) stepped down a little bit in regards to the songs’ dominance, still it can be considered as an adequate TAKARA release. And then there was silence... ...until 2008, that saw the band hitting back with an (again) revised lineup featuring ex-Yngwie Malmsteen members Bjorn Englen and Patrick Johansson; thus, the rhythm section credibility became instantly confirmed. Newcomer singer Gus Monsanto (REVOLUTION RENAISSANCE, ADAGIO) wrapped up the ’new era’ TAKARA camp (Brook Hansen remained from the previous lineup) while Jeff Scott Soto donated back-up vocals for this new album. "Invitation To Forever" features a great cover artwork, for a start, and I was destined to spend lots of time (more than a dozen of continuous auditions) with the new TAKARA CD in order to answer all of my questions and relax to the band’s new songs
www.metal-temple.com/review.asp?id=3463

Long term fans of Takara will probably be listening closely to Gustavo to see if he can follow in the footsteps of Jeff Scott Soto. In general, he all but pulls it off and even though there is a tendency for us all to hanker back to the past he announces his arrival despite the legacy of the past. The album has everything you would expect from a band with the tradition of Takara. The water tight and driving rhythm section of Bjorn Englen and Patrick Johansson has an air of confident understanding gained through playing together with Yngwie Malmsteen. This leaves Grusky’s guitar to steal the attention with some trademark break
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One thing I have to admire about TAKARA, who started way back in 1987, is that they have not let up on their perverse stride for success! With their new release “Invitation To Forever” featuring the amazing vocals of Gus Monsanto having that special touch to uproot an underground fan base. During the history of TAKARA they once had a classic vocalist named Jeff Scot Soto who has now returned after a 10 year absent to add background vocals to this new disc. The opening track “Angel Of Lies” soars with heavenly keyboards by Brook Hansen and vocalist Monsanto is to simply put it… ass kicking. As you move on to “Final Warning” you can hear the musicianship of TAKARA is at a high level. Guitarist Neal Grusky goes from rock to symphonic, as his masterful chops are mind bending. Listening to Monsanto vocals he has touches of a Ronnie James Dio yet has his own progressive style
www.rockeyez.com/reviews/cd/takara/rev-invitation-to-forever.html

Not the first name that would spring to mind on Prog Rock Records sees US Melodic Rockers TAKARA issue their fifth long player of a near twenty year career, and the addition of a new singer to replace the irreplaceable(?) Jeff Scott Soto. The new singer being one Gustavo Monsanto of ADAGIO and TIMO TOLKKI who adds a bit more un-refined Hard Rock vocals to TAKARA’s sound than the refined and superb, other worldly pipes of Soto. It’s a brave man who competes with Soto in the singing stakes and Monsanto delivers a solid but hardly remarkable performance. For all intents this is a standard fare Melodic Rock album. It has the pre-requisite anthemic choruses, soaring vocals and plenty of flashy guitar riffs and solos from main man and axe-slinger Neal Grusky. TAKARA don’t have that savvy swish of EDEN’S CURSE or the pomp of TNT or TALISMAN but students of Melodic Rock and Metal will welcome most of the songs on ‘’Invitation To Forever’’.
www.metal-observer.com/articles.php?lid=1&sid=1&id=15674

Angels Of Lies kicks off symphonically, but becomes an up-beat hard rock tune. The warm voice of Gus Monsanto fits quite good to Takara's sound and they can hook you up with this one. But they add some progressive elements as well as neo-classical guitar parts to the 70's hard rock. At the same time they don't sound backdated, the songs sound alive. At Final Warning they are a bit heavier and even if there is a symphonic keyboard melody Neal Grusky's guitar riffs dominate. The lyrics for the heavy riff-based rocker Spotlight are written by Jeff Scott Soto, but still Monsanto is singing this catchy tune. The song is one of the highlights at Invitation To Forever. With harmony vocals they start into This Story Has To Be Told, a balladesque tune which is focused on Gus' voice. Due to the harmony vocals the song has the early 90's flair... Revives a bit the glam metal... One of my favorites is Looking For Salvation which hooked me up right away. The ingredients are the same, but somehow this one sticks out. An acoustic balladesque tune you get with This Photograph and again I think that in the early 90's this one would have get a lot attention... But a good song is a good song, no matter if it's the current trend or not. On the other hand there are songs like Nowhere To Run which aren't bad at all, but a bit repetitive and can't really hook you up. But even if there aren't just killers, there are no real fillers either
www.ice-vajal.com/t/CD/takara.htm

Gustavo Monsanto does the trick delivering some great vocals in here and if you still miss Jeff Scott Soto –who was the trademark voice of the band- he is here to do some backing vocals. You will also enjoy the magic guitar playing of Neal Grusky that offers some great leads and melodies in here that slots in the correct place upon the rhythm wall of Bjorn Englen (Bass) and Patrick Johannson (Drums). Oh yes the keyboards of Brook Hansen are here to offer the final touch to the magic. Invitation To Forever to forever is one of those records that really remains into your mind not only due to the inspired songwriting of the band but also due to the excellent instrument performances of the musicians and the crystal clear production. For me it is a huge must for all the fans of Hard Rock and Traditional heavy Metal, so do not miss it for all the gold of the world!
www.forgotten-scroll.net/review.php?act=s_rev&id=440&rev=Countraven

I have not heard the band’s previous releases, but the new studio album Invitation to Forever includes quite nice melodic hard rock. The new singer has a strong, good voice and Grusky plays really fast and skillful solos. The keyboards are also heavily present on each song. Stylistically there hasn’t been much progress since the 80’s but that can be a good thing. At times they go more into the power metal side (for example on the powerful opener “Angel of Lies”), which pleases me. When listening to this album for the first time I was already starting to be happy about the absence of the obligatory, syrupy ballad, but then it appeared after all… Also including some acoustic guitar “This Photograph” sounds almost like Guns and Roses which is not a merit in my books. For the most part, the material on this album works pretty well, and these all are talented guys all right. If you’re into high-quality 80’s styled hard rock and metal, you should get this album.
www.unimeri.com/PsychotropicZone/reviews.en.php?subaction=showfull&id=1238153088&archive=&start_from=&ucat=3&

TAKARA returns with a new CD titled ‘Invitation to forever’, released on the US label PROGROCK RECORDS. The CD features lead singer GUS MONSANTO, who is also later in the year singing on the new REVOLUTION RENAISSANCE. Back to TAKARA, because the first 3 albums of TAKARA are almost classics, filled with superb Melodic Hardrock, just like on this new record and the previous CD ‘Perception of reality’, so all together 5 wonderful TAKARA albums. The only difference between the first 3 and the last 2 are the lead vocals, because nobody in this world is able to replace JEFF SCOTT SOTO, the original TAKARA singer. Although Jeff is singing some harmonyvocals here, the new TAKARA CD could have become the best Melodic Hardrockalbum of 2009 if Jeff had sung all leads here, just like on those first 3 TAKARA classics. It’s not that Gus is a weak singer, because he is really showing he has some good vocal skills, but he is not as good as ‘Vocal God’ Jeff, who would have definitely given this CD the additional touch in making it a real classic. Anyway, part from that, this new TAKARA CD is still a very good CD, with some fantastic Melodic Hardrocksongs and truly superb guitarwork by TAKARA’s bandleader NEAL GRUSKY in songs such as “Spotlight”, “Riders on the road”, “Nowhere to run” and “Looking for salvation”. One will always wonder how it would have sounded if Jeff had sung all lead vocals, because then this CD would definitely have been one of the highlights of 2009. Nevertheless, it still is a highly recommended album to all Melodic Hardrockfans as it is loaded with great material.
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