Band:	Toyz
Album:	Carte Blanche
Style:	Rock
Release date:	2009
A review by:	Jeff

01. Angel
02. The Captor
03. Velvet Touch
04. One More Try
05. The Old Tree
06. Pharaoh's Cries
07. Asylum
08. Therefore I Am
09. The Poet
10. You And I
11. Rock Singers

Carte Blanche (White Card) is the second album of the French band Toyz. If their first album was a good Hard FM release, the new one is a bit different, with some new Prog influences. It's cool nonetheless, old school but well done and with really nice songs. Sure, maybe that this new direction will be disturbing for the people who likes pure catchy Hard FM and maybe not enough "complex" for the progheads but anyway Carte Blanche is a good release, so please let's have a look at it!

This release is really melodic as you can guess, and obviously Toyz is influenced by Bon Jovi, Scorpions and a lot of other Hard Rock bands. But it seems that our guys like Neo Prog too and they chose to add some new interesting elements which could remind you Marillion or Toto for example. This is nice and the whole album can be listened form the beginning to the end without any real break and let down. The keyboards are really important and add deepness to the music and the guitars solos are powerful and touching. Carte Blanche has a real soul, a real spirit, not really modern maybe but touching definitely! My only problem maybe is that a majority of the songs are maybe too mellow and lacks a bit of energy but after all it's one of the main mark of Neo Prog. Also maybe that the band is a bit too much in between those two genres and that the Hard Rock fans will find it too Prog and progheads will find it too FM if you see what I mean? On the other hand the songs work pretty well so I think that it should be convincing for a lot of you.

I also like Carte Blanche because it's perfectly played and the musicians are top level ones. The voice of Luke Marcheciel is hot and classy, I cannot say that Toyz is the revelation of the year because after all they didn't re-invent anything but this is a really solid and professional band, and in this category, they're not a lot in France. With its good production, Carte Blanche is a good surprise, not perfect yet (the real "mega hit" is missing in the album) but extremely promising for the future.

I'm a fan of Progressive music and I have the feeling that Toyz could become famous, at least in France, in the genre if the guy follow this new orientation. Longer and more complex songs could pay a lot if the band manages to do it. We'll see later but for now, if you like 80's music and Neo Prog, Carte Blanche could be a good release for you.