ROBERT BERRY is a name most melodic rock fans should be somewhat familiar with. His most high profile gig was back in the 80’s with the band 3, which featured ELP members Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer. That band had a brief run at commercial success with its proggy AOR sound. BERRY has been involved in several other projects since then as well as releasing several solo albums, with “The Dividing Line” being his most recent, in 2008.

The album showcases the talent that is ROBERT BERRY as he plays all instruments on the album (with exception of one track). BERRY is a talented vocalist for sure and he turns in a great performance on this record. The songs are high quality melodic rock with a big dose of AOR and you can certainly see why a label like Frontiers would put this out. Highlight tracks include the opening title track and hard rocking “The Dividing Line”. BERRY provides a solid guitar riff under his soaring vocals on that one. “One Good Man” gives you some slight progressive overtones to bring back memories of his past projects while the track “Faith” is a heartfelt piano ballad that really shows off BERRY’s impressive vocals and his talent on the piano as well as the acoustic guitar. Check out the cool flamenco-style break on this one! A great thing about his vocals is that he really doesn’t sound like anyone else that I can think of. BERRY is unique in his own right but as solid as anyone. “This Life” is another tune with progressive overtones and this one is a favorite of mine for sure with its stabbing keyboards and powerful arrangement.

“A Life Worth Livin’” is possibly my favorite track on the record as BERRY turns to full-on AOR mode with this tune; great vocals, great chorus, great guitars and great keys just make for a solid AOR rocker. The keys continue to pump on “Can’t Let Go” as the song showcases a slight ASIA feel. The keys keep coming on “I Gave You The Best Of Me” with BERRY doing his best Keith Emersonimpression on this as it sounds like ELP in AOR mode!

A special mention should be given to the closing track “Life Is On Fire” as it is an epic tune clocking in at over six minutes and has many tempo changes and sounds ranging from the likes of ELP to even LED ZEPPELIN.

All in all, I may have been a little late to the game on this one as it was released in 2008, but if you’re a fan of high quality melodic rock with some proggy overtones and solid vocals then “The Dividing Line” could be worth looking into.