I think the 1st Hardline album is great - the 2nd is truly missing that 'magic touch' though. I saw them live here in the UK supporting Extreme and to this day they were probably the loudest band I have ever seen. I was also fortunate enough to meet Neal and his then girlfriend (wife?) who was of course a Gioeli sister - man she was a very beautiful lady indeed. Kinda funny really - as they came out the hotel, a few guys went up to him and asked to get a load of stuff signed, but he knew right away they weren't fans and just wanted signatures to make some cash and promptly told em to 'disappear', or words to that effect anyway.
I remember reading an interview with Johnny somewhere and apparently Neal was only supposed to guest on a few tracks, but loved it so much he kinda persuaded them to let him join, which the band were reluctant to do because they wanted to make an impact on their own steam, not because there was a Journey member in their ranks. A bit of googling should find the interview. Anyways...
You can find more info on Johnny and Hardline at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Gioeli
Kinda interesting to read this though which I didn't know -
"Back in 1998, vocalist Jeff Scott Soto left the Axel Rudi Pell band, and Axel called Johnny Gioeli for his Oceans of Time CD, which up to date has been considered as one of the best Axel Rudi Pell albums so far."