THE BAND:
Toby Hitchcock – Lead Vocals
Erik Martensson – All Instruments except where noted

TRACK FRAGMENTS:
1.) “This Is The Moment” - This track opens with a very simple keyboard note.  Eric overdubbed a rhythm guitar arrangement over the top of it.  This rhythm guitar arrangement was very reminiscent to some of the stuff Rudolf Schenker has been writing the last couple of years.  Right before the musical verse Eric overdubbed a separate rhythm riff.  There is a huge snare/tom-tom fill underneath a minor lead guitar solo and vocal scream.  To kick-in the musical verse there is a huge double-tracked minor lead guitar solo.  It’s also at this point Eric brings the keyboards back to the front of the song.  The musical verse consisted of only a drum kick.  The musical changes along with Toby’s vocals had a huge hook attached to them.   There is a twin lead guitar solo after the second chorus this lead to a keyboard interlude and breakdown.  The coda consisted of a huge double-bass drum pattern.     
2.) “Strong Enough” - (Magnus Henriksson - lead guitar) This track opens with a long distorted lead guitar effect.  The main body of the intro consisted of two different rhythm guitar patterns.  Outside of adding the drum/bass line the guitar riffs of the musical verse stays the same as the one for the intro arrangement.  Toby’s vocal’s are very reminiscent to Dennis DeYoung (Styx).  There is a huge backing harmony to kick-in the musical chorus.  There is a small snare fill underneath the backing harmony for the musical change of the chorus.  The chorus has a huge hook attached to it.  There is a small minor solo riff connecting the first chorus over the top of the second verse.  Toby sings a vocal accent over the top minor lead guitar solo riff.  Toby sings several lead vocal lines over the top of the third chorus, which leads into a lead guitar solo. The solo runs through the coda and is amazing!!!!!  
3.) “How To Stop” - (Magnus Ulfstedt - drums) The intro to this ballad consisted of Eric playing a picking guitar arrangement over the top of lead guitar licks.  There is a rhythm arrangement change for the musical verse. As the verse progresses Magnus slowly builds the drum line by starting with the hi-hat then incorporating the bass drum then the snare drum.  This gives the verse a slow build-up sound.  There are several lyrics where Toby will carry the note out showing that he is a huge vocal talent!  The verse and chorus are but right up against each other to the point of you will almost miss the chorus if you are not paying any attention. There is a very short solo after the second chorus.  The hook of the choruses are amazing on this track!!!  The backing vocals on the last chorus were very reminiscent to early Journey.   Do not let the fact that there really isn’t much going on on this track fool you.  The song is simply amazing for this style of music. 
4.) “Let Go” - This intro opens with the special effects of a thunder storm.  Over the top of the thunderstorm effects, there is an orchestrated string arrangement.  The main musical intro opens with a pick slide.Eric wrote a huge musical hook for this intro.  Eric plays several lead guitar licks underneath the lyrics of the verse.  The musical verse consisted of Eric playing a very simple electric guitar rhythm.  The musical verse had a very simple yet huge hook attached to it.  There is a rhythm guitar change for the musical chorus.  There are times through the musical verse you can hear this amazing guitar or keyboard riff.  After the second chorus, there is an amazing yet short lead guitar solo.   There are several lead guitar licks in between the lead vocals and the musical arrangement of the coda.
5.) “One Day I’ll Stop Loving You” - The intro to this ballad consisted of a grand piano.  Toby used the same piano arrangement for the musical verse as the intro.  As the verse progresses Toby’s vocals get more intense more intense.  The song kicks-in for the musical chorus.  Though Eric changed the grand piano rhythm for the chorus it kind of gets swallowed up in the other instruments.  The chorus had a very dramatic feel to it.  There are a couple of string notes that connect the first chorus with the second verse.  The first lyric line of the second verse consisted of a double-tracked lyric line.  A double-tracked backing vocal line connected the second and third lyric lines.  Because it was turned down I like to think of it as a shadowed backing harmony.  The fourth lyric line of the second verse was double-tracked.  There was a lead guitar solo underneath the third chorus.  The production value of the third verse alone makes this a great song.   
6.) “I Should Have Said” -(Magnus Ulfstedt - drums) - This is an amazing song!!!!
7.) “If It’s To Be (It’s Up To Me)” - This was a very simple up-tempo song.  However, do not let the fact that the song was simple fool you.  It is equally as good as the rest of the songs on the CD.
8.) “Just Say Goodbye” -(Fredrik Floklore - lead guitar) - This track opens with a whole-note played on the keyboard.  The main musical intro consisted of a amplified acoustic guitar rhythm.  This amplified acoustic rhythm had a very cool sound to it.  The bass line underneath the rhythm played the same notes as the guitar riff.  There was a short snare fill connecting the musical intro with the musical verse.  Eric not only changes the rhythm for the musical verse however, he also switched to an electric guitar.  There is a rhythm change for the musical chorus.  There was a blistering solo connecting the second chorus with a third chorus that Eric arranged as a breakdown section.   Fredrik double-tracked the middle section of the solo to give it a twin lead guitar effect.  For the first lyric line of the third chorus the only musical arrangement was the keyboards.  There is a minor lead guitar solo underneath the lyric lines of the coda.
9.) “Summer Nights In Cabo” -(Magnus Henriksson - lead guitar) - This intro fades in.  There is a small lead guitar lick connecting the musical intro with the musical verse.  There is a very simple musical change for the musical verse.  The drum line was done using a cross stick on the snare.  The verse builds-up to the chorus giving the chorus a very nice hook.  After the second chorus there is a blistering lead guitar solo.  There is a second lead guitar solo underneath the lyric lines of the last two choruses of the coda. 
10.) “Tear Down The Barricades” - Musically this track left me jaw dropping speachless!
11.) “A Different Drum” -(Magnus Ulfstedt - drums) - Oh, my gawd what a song!!!!
12.) “Mercury’s Down” -(Fredrik Floklore - lead guitar)  - AMAZING!!!!!

     Toby Hitchcock has taken advantage of Pride Of Lions being on vacation to record his first solo CD titled, ‘Mercury’s Down’.  For his first release, Toby enlisted the help of Erik Martensson (Eclipse) who plays most of the instruments, co-wrote every song and produced the CD.  The chemistry between Toby & Eric is amazing and if you did not know any better you could swear the two have been playing together for years.  ‘Mercury’s Down’ could easily be considered freshman CD of the year.  An absolute must own for all rock fans!!!