Rock Blog #45: Ghost, H.E.A.T. , Harem Scarem, Enbound

Back to our nornal programming - reviews and that sort of things!

GHOST released their latest album a while ago, and it went to #1 on the Billboard charts! Congrats, who says Rock is dead? As for the album ”Skeletá” (RRRRr), I like it a lot. Their theatrical brand of melodic rock with sounds strangely seventies and modern at the same time. 

I find it hard to name highlights because I pretty much like every song on the album, but maybe ”Missilia Amori”, ”Umbra”, ”Guiding Lights”… the only song that doesn’t really move me is the closing ballad ”Excelsis”. 

The new H.E.A.T. album has been in heavy rotation on my playlist, and I think it’s an improvement from the previous one. ”Welcome To The Future” (RRRRr) isn’t their best album, but one of the better ones for sure. 

For me, it’s an album of two halves, even though I don’t have it on vlnyl. The first half is the better one, with ”Running To You” which I rate as one of the best songs of this year and 5 other rather fine songs. On the ”B-side” there’s room for material that’s not quite as strong. I like ”Children Of The Storm”, ”Paradise Lost” and ”We Will Not Forget”, but the other three aren’t in the same league. Not bad songs by any means, but not as good as the others. 

HAREM SCAREM is back and they’re ”Chasing Euphoria” (RRRR). After the first spin of the album I thought the brilliant title track overshadowed the other tracks, but now that I’ve played this a few more times, the other songs are raising their heads. 

The very ”Mood Swings”-like ”Gotta Keep Your Head Up” sung by Darren Smith and ”Slow Burn” would probably be the next contenders for a Best of Harem Scarem mixtape, but considering the band’s back catalogue, I’m not sure whether they’d make it. The title track would though.

I recall liking the previous two ENBOUND albums, which featured ”Lee Hunter” aka Lars Säfsund on vocals. He’s now replaced by another good Swedish singer, Toby from Arctic Rain. Lee Hunter does make an appearance on the song ”Actors”. 

”Set It Free” (RRR) is a well-produced, highly polished melodic metal album, but somehow it leaves me a bit cold. I’ve tried listening to it on different days and situations, but it doesn’t open for me. I don’t know why,  the melodies just don’t lure me into their world. It can’t be the change of vocalist, because the new guy sings very well too.

Rock Blog #44: a small CD hunter’s travel guide to Vienna

This blog entry is something different. I’ll get back to the normal stuff later, but for now, here’s  a small ”CD hunter’s travel guide to Vienna”. 

Me and my family spent a few days in the beautiful city of Vienna in Austria recently, and I did some CD hunting there. Beforehand, I checked out what the city had to offer, and chose a couple of the many second hand records stores which I wanted to visit, as I only had limited time for this hobby of mine.

The weather wasn’t favorable on our first day in Vienna, but I decided to take a walk in the rain to Moses Records and Sing Sing Records anyway, a little bit outside the main shopping district. These days it’s fairly easy to navigate with a phone in your hand, but I did take a few wrong turns which made the trip a slightly longer than I had hoped for. First stop was at Moses Records, which was packed with vinyl and CDs. They had dedicated shelves for metal and other genres, but also a million 2 euro CD’s in no particular order. I checked out most of the CD racks, but didn’t find anything I absolutely wanted. The prices of the used CDs were around 6-15 euros I think, those 2 euro cheap ones excluded. 

The next stop was at SingSing Records, which was maybe a slightly smaller store, but more to my liking. A decent hard rock / metal selection, and I picked up a couple of CDs, a Petra compilation and Michael Bormann’s first solo album, 6 euros each. I tried to bargain as they weren’t in that good condition, but the lady behind the counter showed no mercy :). She was helpful though, when I asked where I should go for new CDs.  SingSing had also a lot of boxes full of 1 euro CDs. As far as I could tell, they weren’t sorted out in any way, and seemed to be mostly common pop/rock stuff. Maybe I could have found something if I had gone through them all, but the amount of boxes was exhausting! 

The Müller store on the Mariahilfer strasse had a ”vinyl fair” going on, where you got a discount depending on how many LP’s you bought. Not really my thing, LP’s are fairly expensive these days. They also had a small, fairly decent CD department.  I also visited a Media Markt on the same street, their selection wasn’t as good. These big department and electronic stores seem to be cutting down the space dedicated for music, which is sad but understandable. The kids nowadays are enjoying their music via streaming services. Still, compared to Finnish stores, it was a time trip to 5-10 years ago. The CD shelves have pretty much disappeared from major stores. 

I did some shopping at Westfield Shopping City Süd, which is a huge shopping mall outside of Vienna. There was a Müller store there, and I found the latest Avantasia album on vinyl for 25 euros, which I thought was a good price. I also bought the new H.E.A.T. CD, 15 euros. The was a small Media Markt in the mall too, nothing much there. A massive store of theirs would have been in the same area, but I didn’t have the time to wander there. Oh what did I miss… 

Another chain that carries some CDs is Thalia. They’re mostly a book store but they do have some music and movies, at least in some of their branches.

ROCK BLOG #43: W.E.T. , Arion, Gotthard, Streetlight

The (mostly) Swedish supergroup W.E.T. have been very consistent when it comes to the quality of their material. Naturally I had sky-high expectations for their fifth effort. First look at the track listing made me think that the band had dusted off a couple of older songs of theirs - ”Believer” (a track Erik Mårtensson wrote for Giant) and ”Day By Day” (the Talisman song).  That wasn’t the case, both are new songs, I guess they just ran out of song titles…it happens. Anyway, when it comes to the quality, ”Apex” (RRRR) is probably my least favourite W.E.T. album but it’s still better than most things released these days. There maybe a few songs that don’t work for me, but then again, ”This House Is On Fire”, ”Where Are The Heroes Now”, ”Day By Day” and a few others are H.I.T.S. 

ARION are a modern metal band with some progressive elements, and ”The Light That Burns The Sky” (RRRR) is their fourth album. Their turbo-charged melodic metal sounds more Swedish than Finnish for me, think Dynazty and Amaranthe. No growling or female vocals (except for Melissa Bonny on one of the songs), but catchy melodies mixed with intricate arrangements. Listening to the whole album from start to finish is a rather demanding experience, because the each song is so full of everything, but I can’t deny that the songs are mostly very good. Maybe a little bit of variety in the intensity the next time, okay?

Once upon a time, GOTTHARD were an unstoppable rock machine. Then they were struck by tragedy and vocalist Steve Lee died in an accident. The band soldiered on with a new, excellent vocalist Nic Maeder but somehow they lost their magic.  With their fifth post-Steve Lee album ”Stereo Crush” (RRRr) the band is trying hard to find their magic again, and at times they do get close. 

”Stereo Crush” is a decent album, with some solid hard rock songs, a few ballads and something in between, but I’m not sure whether any of these songs will end up as Gotthard classics. After a few spins, the closest contenders are the delicate, semi-balladic ”Burning Bridges”  solely written by Maeder and the excellent rocker ”Shake Shake”, a Leoni/Maeder collaboration. 

”Night Vision” (RRRr) is the ”difficult second album” for STREETLIGHT. Their debut ”Ignition” got some rave reviews a couple of years ago, the band’s retro-AOR sounded like it came directly from the early eighties. So, did they use all their ammunition for the first album? Not necessarily, but maybe the most shining diamonds were delivered on the debut and we’ll have to wait for the third album for the next batch of gems. Don’t get me wrong, there are very good songs on this album too, especially on the first half of it, but not quite as ear-catching as the best tracks of ”Ignition”. 

Rock Blog #42: Ray Of Light, Mantric Momentum, Blue Ambition, Lordi

The overwhelming flood of new albums continues, and I just try to keep my head above water, so let’s dive in (?!)…

I already mentioned RAY OF LIGHT and their debut album ”Salute” (RRRR) a while ago. I compared them to Harem Scarem, and I stand by that statement. Check out their ”namesake song” ”Ray Of Light” - that’s very much like ”Mood Swings”-era Harem Scarem.  The band has its’ roots in Frontline, the German band who released cult classic albums such as ”Heroes” and ”The State Of Rock” back in the nineties. Knowing that, I can hear traces of Frontline in some of the songs, and there’s actually one called ”Frontline” here! The UK-based vocalist Gregg Cromack has a different type of voice to that of Frontline’s Stephan Kaemmerer, but I can imagine him singing Frontline's songs with ease. So, if a hybrid of Harem Scarem and Frontline sounds like your kind of thing, check out Ray Of Light. Oh yeah, you could add Foreigner to the list, "Best Of Me" borrows some vocal melodies shamelessly from a classic song of theirs... let's see if you can spot them, because the song itself is quite different.

MANTRIC MOMENTUM is another name I think I mentioned too. This Norwegian metal band is a continuation of sorts of Theodor Tuff I believe, and "Alienized" (RRRRr) is their second album. This is the kind of metal that appeals to me -  anthemic, melodic, powerful. Think Nocturnal Rites, Masterplan, maybe even Pink Cream 69... each song has a strong hook and clever arrangement, and Terje Harøy (Pyramize) sings like a metal god. Excellent stuff! Highlights: "A Stronger Stance", "Alienized", "Resilience". The band name is a bit of a mouthful though!

BLUE AMBITION is a new project by Frédéric Slama, who has released several albums under the "AOR" monicker. He has enlisted Tommy Denander to provide a lot of the instrumentation, while Robbie LeBlanc (Find Me, Blanc Faces) is the vocalist. 

I've heard many of the AOR (the project) albums, and while they've been pleasant enough, they haven't really captured my attention for long. “Seduction Of The Innocent” (RRR) is somewhat similar, but it does have its moments. "Holding On To You" and "Wired Angel" are among best songs I've heard from Slama, but towards the end the album falls into the bland sea of pleasantness.

LORDI, the rock monsters from Finland are back with "Limited Deadition" (RRRR), their latest album. As the title might suggest, there's a theme of collecting memorabilia, vintage toys etc, with several advertisement-styled interludes between the songs.

This could have been the best Lordi album of all time, if the chorus hooks had been just a little bit more sharper and melodic. Don't get me wrong, there are some monster choruses here (what else!), but also a few that leave me wanting more. Take "Killharmonic Orchestra" for example - it gets a flying start but the chanting is just confusing. Then again, I pretty much like all of the songs, except for "Syntax Terror", which is the album's heaviest and least melodic song.

Rock Blog #41: Sisters Doll, Majestica, Perfect Plan, Ginger Evil, Avantasia

 It's been a while again, and the "to be checked"-list of new albums is getting longer every week. Time to work on it!

SISTERS DOLL. Must be a  Swedish sleaze/glam band, right? That was my initial reaction, and I also thought I had heard them before and crossed them off my list. Then a song of theirs was on Spotify's "new releases" playlist, it sounded good and I checked who it was... ahh, Sisters Doll... let's see... they're Australian? Okay... and they've got three albums out, none of which I've actually heard. The band consists of 4 Mileto brothers and "Scars" (RRRR) is their latest effort, released in January 2025. It reached a very respectable #11 position on the Autralian album chart, considering that rock isn't exactly mainstream these days. My "Swedish sleaze" reaction isnt't completely off the mark, as the band's sound has something in common with that particular scene. There's a certain melancholic undertone in their songs too, which reminds me of the Finnish bands like HIM and Negative. I might thrown in Black Veil Brides as well. What else...The ballad "First Time" captures the sound of 1990 quite well, when the glam bands had begun to tone down their image and made black and white videos for their semi-acoustic slow songs. "Take You Away" moves into the direction of Harem Scarem and Winger, while "Kiss Me" is more in the Butch Walker vein. All this might sound like a bit of a mixed bag, but somehow it isn't. Good stuff!

Tommy Johansson is known for his YouTube metal covers, his stint in Sabaton and various bands and projects. A profilic musician indeed. One of his longest-standing bands is MAJESTICA.  The band was previously called ReinXeed, but in 2019 they decided to get a new start and changed the name. "Power Train" (RRRr) is Majestica's third album. This is a textbook example of a modern day power metal album - symphonic elements, soaring vocals, ultra-fast beats, chest-beating choruses and much more. You'll hear touches of many of the icons of power metal - Sonata Arctica, Helloween, Sabaton to name a few.  What's missing are the standout songs to raise this to the next level. The title track and "A Story In The Night" are the closest contenders. I like it but don't love it... then again, if you're a fan of the genre, you're most likely to love it.

PERFECT PLAN's previous album "Brace For Impact" wasn't a disappointment as such, but it kind of fell through the cracks. With "Heart Of A Lion" (RRRRr) the band returns to the frontline of Scandinavian AOR. The album is a tribute to the classic bands of the eighties - Survivor, Foreigner, Journey etc. but with a muscular contemporary production. The "singles" released before the album were all very good, but interestingly my favourite track isn't among them this time: "Ready To Break" is a gem hidden in the middle of the album. Anyway, there's not much to fault here really, we're mostl likely talking about a Top 10 album for this year. I just hope that vocalist Kent Hilli's other project GIANT doesn't overshadow this album once it's released.

GINGER EVIL is a new Finnish band, and their album "The Way It Burns" (RRR) is a departure from the usual Frontiers releases. The band plays modern rock that reminds me of The Foo Fighters, Paramore, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Anouk. Compared to some other modern rock acts, they have a rather organic sound and an exceptionally good vocalist in Ella Tepponen. Their songwriting may be a little too grungy/alt. sounding for my taste, but they're certainly very good at what they do. Check out "Dead On Arrival" or the moody "Arrowhead". The latter is a cover of a song by Finnish singer/songwriter J. Karjalainen. To put it mildy, I don't really care for his music. Ginger Evil have managed to turn this song into something that I enjoy, which is something of a miracle!

I'm really looking forward to seeing AVANTASIA live for the first time in April, and Tobias Sammet's latest opus "Here Be Dragons" (RRRR) has been in powerplay in my stereo and headphones. I've always liked Sammet's way of writing melodies, and this album is yet another testament to that. Once again the album features many guest stars: Geoff Tate, Bob Catley, Tommy Karevik, Michael Kiske, Roy Khan, Ronnie Atkins, Kenny Leckremo and Adrieanne Coven.  The songs range from fast power metal tracks to melodic rock, with a big, somewhat Queen-like ballad closing the album. My favourite tracks are on the first half of the album, the second half isn't quite as strong, therefore only four R's.

  

Rock Blog #40: Dynazty, JÄST and a few words about other stuff...

 A few new things I’ve been listening to…

DYNAZTY released their latest album "Game Of Faces" (RRRRr) last week, and once again it's a brilliant slice of modern melodic metal. The Swedish songwriting tradition is evident in these songs - the melodies have top priority and almost every song has serious hit potential. Some "True Metal" fans are probably going to hate the pop elements and call this "disco metal", but as a proud False Metal person, I think this might just be the best Dynazty album so far. Some of my favourites include "Fire To Fight", "Call Of The Night", "Devilry Of Ecstasy" and "Dark Angel". The latter sounds a bit like a metal version of "Let It Go" from "Frozen"... come on, you secretly like that song too!  

The curiously named JÄST is a new band from Germany, and they have a mission: "Bring Rock Back To Radio!". Behind the strange monicker there are 3 seasoned musicians from well-known metal bands such as Orden Ogan, Grave Digger, Domain and Freedom Call - Steven Wussow, Axel Ritt and Tim Breideband. Fronting the band is young singer Jessica Conte, and she's indeed a discovery, possessing a voice that could be described as "silk and steel". A beautiful voice with a perfect amount of grit, reminding me a little bit of Debbie Davis (Witness). The band has recently released an EP called "4" which features 6 songs, all good melodic rock tracks. My favorites are "Heartlight" and "I Can See Clearly Now". As for the name, apparently it is in tradition of ABBA, the first names of each member... the umlauts are just an extra metal touch, I guess? Rating: RRRR, and I'm looking forward to a full-length album!

What else... the last time I wasn't sure about the rating for CRAZY LIXX, but I think I'm now confident that it's RRRR, not more. A good album once again, but there a few songs that don't really work for me.

MANTRIC MOMENTUM's "Alienized" I've only played once, but it sounds very promising. Same with RAY OF LIGHT, their Harem Scarem-influenced stuff isn't half bad either. As for HAREM SCAREM, they've released a second taster from their next album. The song "Chasing Euphoria" sounds good, I like it more than the previous one. MARKO HIETALA's "Roses From The Deep" has a couple of gems ("Frakenstein's Wife" and "Tammikuu"), maybe more of that later... BAD HABIT (Sweden) has also released a new single "Breaking My Chains", well worth checking out. 

Rock Blog #39: The Swedes are at it again… The Night Flight Orchestra, Captain Black Beard and Crazy Lixx

 

Yeah, this entry is dedicated to three new albums and as it happens, they’re all from Sweden. First up, the new album from THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA, ”Give Us The Moon” (RRRRr). The band rarely disappoints, and this new album is definitely a very good one again. 

Even though one of the main writers, guitarist David Andersson, passed away in September 2022, the band’s distinctive sound hasn’t changed. They’re still very much stuck in the late seventies/early eighties AOR, with touches of disco. Lots of percussion, swirling retro synths and great melodies! My favourites include ”Runaways”, ”Shooting Velvet” and ”Paloma”. 

You’d think that CAPTAIN BLACK BEARD would be a pirate metal band, right? They’re not, and have more in common with the band mentioned above than Running Wild. New vocalist Fredrik Vahlgren does have a voice that could be very suitable for power metal too. In fact, at times he sounds very much like Sonata Arctica’s Tony Kakko.

CBB are obviously somewhat influenced by TNFO, but their sound isn’t as retro. The modern scandi-AOR/Hard Rock stylings of H.E.A.T. , Eclipse etc can be heard on these tracks. ”Chasing Rainbows” gets RRRR from the Finnish Jury (okay, it’s just me but anyway…) . My top picks would be ”When It’s Over”, the hard-hitting ”Where Do We Go” and vintage-sounding ballad ”Piece Of Paradise”. 

I just got my hands on the new CRAZY LIXX album ”Thrill Of The Bite” today, so this is a ”first impression” type of a review. I don’t think I’m ready to give it a rating yet.

The album opens with ”Highway Hurricane”, which unsurprisingly is a hard rocker. Can you imagine a mix of Mötley Crüe and Bonfire (”Point Blank” era)? ”Who Said Rock N’ Roll Is Dead” is a shout-along anthem and again I’m thinking of Bonfire… or maybe it’s songwriter Jack Ponti? Great stuff anyway. The Alice Cooper’ish ”Little Miss Dangerous” is one of the singles already released, as are ”Midnight Rebel”, ”Call Of The Wild” and the awesome ”Hunt For Danger”, so let’s check out the new songs. ”Recipe For Revolution” is a slightly slower track, not necessarily one of my instant favourites but not bad by any means. ”Run Run Wild” has a bit of a bluesy swagger and goddamn it, I hear a bit of Baton Rouge and Jack Ponti there again. The frantic ”Final Warning” has some fantastic, very metallic guitar work and an anthemic chorus, while the last track ”Stick It Out” hints at Crazy Lixx’ sleaze rock roots, again with a big chorus. 

So there, after one and a half spins or thereabouts, I think I’m safe to say that my rating is at least RRRR… I’ll get back to this in the next blog entry.  

Rock Blog #38: January 2025 summary

 Hello, it's the last day of the first month of 2025, and as I haven't written any reviews this month, I thought I'd do a quick summary of 2025 so far. 

I just listened to the new W.E.T. track "Where Are The Heroes Now", the second song released from the next album. It's a good song, but just like the previous one ("Believer"), it doesn't have blow me away like the best W.E.T. songs have done. Hopefully these songs work better in the context of the album.

Only a handful of new albums have been released so far, and I've checked out a couple of them. First up, one of my all-time favourite bands, BONFIRE. Yes, back in 1989 I spent hours drawing their logo to the back of my denim jacket, while listening to their first three albums. They're all classics in my books, and the band has released decent material during their latter years as well. The recent remakes of the aforementioned classic albums were totally unnecessary though.

"Higher Ground" (RRRR) is a good album, with some classic Bonfire elements mixed with a heavier vibe.  At their heaviest the band remind me of Black Sabbath and Accept, which isn't really what I want to hear from Bonfire. Most of the material is melodic and catchy enough, with the anthemic "I Died Tonight" and "I Will Rise" as my favourites. The ballad "When Love Comes Down" sounds like a vintage Bonfire ballad, offering a bit of a breather among the metallized new Bonfire songs.

WILDNESS have been steadily working on their craft, releasing one decent album after another, and I feel that "Avenger" (RRRRr) is their best effort so far. It's full of hook-filled, big hard rock songs, some of which are more in the power metal territory. The title track and especially "Stand Your Ground" are two such tracks, but strangely enough they don't stick out among the more AOR-friendly material. 

My favourite songs include "Broken Heart", "Wasted Time" and "Poison Ivy", but all in all, this is a very solid album with no real weak spots among its' eleven tracks. The first contender for "The Best Album Of 2025"!

LANDFALL's "Wide Open Sky" (RRR) is described as a mixture of Journey, Extreme, Dokken and White Lion. I don't know, I do hear the Journey influence, but to my ears they sound like a progressive, more complicated version of that band - Journey meets Rush maybe? These Brazilian guys are obviously super-talented musicians, but as always, it's the songs that matter the most to me, and the ones on this album leave me a bit cold.

I've got a few albums still to be checked out (The Night Flight Orchestra, Enbound, The Big Thrill, The Ferrymen), but I'll get back to those later. As for new singles, Wig Wam released their "Human Fire" recently, and while it's darker than some of their party-type of tracks, I do like it. The next album from Perfect Plan promises to be a good one, the two singles released so far have been very good, especially the latest one, "The Heart Of A Lion". 

Rock Blog #37: The Brave, Oz Hawe Peterson's Rendezvous, Find Me, Peaceful Minds, Keys, Fate, Crossbone Skully

Just in time before the new year, here are the last reviews for 2024. I've written these during the last few weeks, but frankly I've forgotten to post them! There's a lot of stuff I haven't had the chance to listen, but I try to get through most of the releases I have access to, because the "Best Of 2024" list has to be put together...

THE BRAVE released their first album ”Battle Cries” in 1991. It was produced by the Elefante brothers John and Dino, and over the years it has reached a semi-classic status. The second album ”Trust” saw a change in direction from the anthemic rock of its’ predecessor. The next album ”Rise” was released twenty years later and featured a female vocalist Amanda Z. The album itself featured several re-recorded older tracks and a few new songs. 

”Evie’s Little Garden” emerged in 2021, with guitarist Stayce Roberts as the lead singer. I liked that album, it was more in the vein of the band’s debut contained some very good songs. Their next album ”Gravedigger” (2022) has completely flown under the radar, I thought that this new album was the follow-up to ”Evie”! 

”Carnival Of Sins” (RRRR) is a rather good mixture of Harem Scarem, Winger, Def Leppard and Alice Cooper with some modern rock thrown in. And Christian message in the lyrics. The songs aren’t immediate hits, but I recommend you give them some time, I wasn’t as convinced yesterday as I am today. The more AOR-type of tracks like ”When You Believe” and ”Undertow” are the ”easiest” ones I guess, but there are some really good ones among the others as well.

OZ HAWE PETERSSON’S RENDEZVOUS is a project put together by Osukaru guitarist Oz Hawe Petersson and keyboard player Matias Rosén. The vocals are provided by several fine vocalists, including Fredrik Werner (Osukaru / Daytona), Jane Gould, Chris Rosander and Boulevard singer David Forbes. The songs range from smooth AOR of the Forbes-sung ”These Tears” and ”All Roads Lead Back To You” to more hard rocking songs such as ”Midnight Lady - Dangerous Game” (trouble deciding the title or what?). It’s all pretty classy stuff with no real fillers in sight, so easily worth an RRRR rating.

I’ve liked all previous FIND ME albums quite a lot, but ”Nightbound” (RRRr) is a bit disappointing. None of the songs are really bad, but they’re just fairly standard AOR stuff. Robbie LaBlanc does his best to elevate them and he does succeed to a degree, the small ”r” is for his performance. There’s one song that stands out, and that’s the Survivor cover ”I See You In Everyone”. The others can’t really compete with it, even though there are two Jim Peterik songs among them.

PEACEFUL MINDS is a Swedish band and ”Til’ I’m Dying” (RRRr) is their first album as far as I know.  The album features Within Temptation guitarist Stefan Helleblad as guest artist, and he can surely adapt to a more classic rock style too. Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy and Europe are few of the names that pop up when listening to this. Pretty good stuff, and ”Caught In The Middle” is the top pick for me.

”The Grand Seduction” (RRR) is the second album from KEYS. The band features the keyboard maestro, super songwriter Mark Mangold and Cyhra/ex-Amaranthe vocalist Jake E. The idea behind the band is that all music is done with keyboards, using plug-ins, samplers and whatever gadgets. Kind of a modern approach, yet at the same time the sound of the album harkens back to the seventies. The biggest downside of the album are the drums, they sound very mechanical and lifeless. 

Mangold’s background as an AOR hit writer doesn’t shine through, these songs are somewhere between classic 70’s rock and progressive rock. Jake E’s Amaranthe connection does raise its’ head with ”Vortex”, the song sounds like it could have been written for that band. Probably the best chorus of the album.

FATE are trying to ”Reconnect N’Ignite” with their latest album, but if I didn’t know, I couldn’t tell that this is the same band that released ”A Matter Of Attitude”. Actually it really isn’t, as there’s only bassist Peter Steincke from the early line-ups present. Vocalist is Per Johansson who is in the band for the third time, he was featured on the fine ”Scratch ’n’ Stiff” album in 1990, then he was a part of the band’s first comeback between 2004 and 2009 and in 2023 returned to the band again. His sound has changed quite a bit, he sounds grittier than before, but at times you can hear some echoes of the said ”S’n’S” album. As for the music, the happy pop metal sounds are gone, replaced by something more sinister and metal. Only some of the keyboard work and couple of the songs remind me of the old Fate. RRR.

CROSSBONE SKULLY is a project by Tommy Henriksen and Tommy Denander, but what has raised the project’s profile the most is the fact that legendary producer Mutt Lange is involved. If you’re expecting something like ”Hysteria” or ”Waking Up The Neighbours”, you might be disappointed, as ”Evil World Machine” (RRR) is very much in the vein of ”Back In Black” and AC/DC, especially the first few songs. 

There are some songs which are more in ”Pyromania” style, like ”Ima Bone Machine”, ”I’m Unbreakable” and the balladic ”The Last Night On Earth”. ”Let’s Bust The Trust” is a bit of a departure from the overall sound, it sounds like an Irish drinking anthem! ”High On You” is the only song that moves to the Adams/Twain direction, a slightly country’ish pop rocker.

Rock Blog #37: Fans Of The Dark, Atlantic, Pleasureland, Counterline, Danger Zone, Hydra, Sweet, Heartwind, Circle Of Friends

FANS OF THE DARK are unashamedly longing for the eighties. Their two previous albums have drawn inspiration from the movies and music of that decade, and that continues even more on the latest one, simply called ”Video” (RRRRr). It’s by far their best album so far. I’m not sure whether they’d agree, but I hear a lot of early Michael Bolton in their songs, mixed with keyboard sounds from Stranger Things soundtrack and some vintage eighties metal! They’ve got the ”Fools Game”/”Runaway” staccato keys on a couple of songs (”Let’s Go Rent a Video” and ”Find Your Love”) and I’ve always been a sucker for those… then they successfully combine Iron Maiden with AOR (AOR Maiden!) in ”The Neon Phantom” and ”Savage Streets”, while ”The Wall” sounds like Sabaton without the rrrough vocals! 

”In The Bay Of Blood” is another highlight, where you’ll find some rather unusual lyrics for a melodic rock track; ”Slash my wrist/Crush my skull/Death is just a gift/In the Bay of Blood”… don’t know about you but I find this refreshing, instead of the typical ”fire - desire - higher” stuff. 

The only weak track is the moody ”Tomorrow Is Another Day”, which doesn’t seem to go anywhere, and ”The Dagger Of Tunis” is maybe a couple of minutes too long, with some unnecessary doodling. Otherwise, this is one of the best albums of 2024 so far! Oh yeah, special mention for the soulful vocals of Alex Falk, he’s quite a character!

ATLANTIC released one album ”Power” back in 1994. It was good album, it didn’t make them household names but it did give them a cult status. This year the band has made a comeback, although with a different line-up. They recently played their first gig at Firefest. ”Another World”, their second album, was released a few months ago. 

”Another World” (RRr) is a pleasant sounding, nicely performed AOR album, but I have to wonder whether it would have been released if it wasn’t for the cult status of the band. With songs called ”Hold On”, ”Missing You”, ”I’ll Be Waiting” and ”Ready Or Not”, you’ll get the idea… ”AI, generate 11 song lyrics about finding love, losing love or missing love, using top 50 AOR albums of the eighties as reference.” Ok, maybe that’s a bit harsh, and I could tolerate these lyrics if the music was super brilliant, but it’s not. It’s as generic as these song titles, mostly mid-tempo or balladic melodic rock by numbers. The last song ”This Ain’t Love” is a bit harder-edged, classic rock in Bad Company vein, but not doesn’t score any more points than the others. 

PLEASURELAND’s first, self-titled album gets a RRR rating. They are from Sweden, which doesn’t surprise anyone I guess… in fact, sometimes it feels like I should write that ”all bands reviewed here are from Sweden, unless otherwise stated”! Anyway, their songs range from 70’s styled disco-rock of ”Shotgun City” to more typical Scandi-AOR of ”Before I De” or ”Hate Stronger Than Love”. My favourite track is ”White Light”, a fine pomp rock track in the vein of Touch. The band has two singers, Björn Segerblad and Jonna Sailen. Björn sings most of the songs, and he sounds like a curious cross between Kenny Lecrkemo and Fergie Frederiksen!

Colombian COUNTERLINE offer us their second album, simply called ”Two” (RRRr). If anything, the album shows how important a stronger opening track is. ”Night Of Rock and Roll” isn’t actually a bad song, but it’s a bit of a ”plodder”, and would have worked much better a bit later in the track listing. The band should have used one of the more captivating, energetic songs like ”Fantasy” or ”Beast Unleashed” as the opener. 

The album is a very solid effort from the (slow) start to finish. All the songs are decent, there are no weak links but then again, no real hits either. Musically the closest reference might be early Jaded Heart, especially since vocalist Harold Waller sounds a lot like Michael Bormann. 

DANGER ZONE from Italy are hard rock veterans, who have been in the game since the early eighties. Their first full-length album was released in 2012 though. ”Shut Up!” (RRRr) is their fifth album, and it’s a pretty good melodic hard rock with gritty vocals and excellent keyboards. I wasn’t particularly impressed with the first half of the album, but the more melodic approach of the second half convinced me. The fourth full ”R” wasn’t far…Highlights; ”Hurt”, ”When You Broke My Soul”, ”Tell Me Truth”. The Vocals of Giacomo Gigantelli are an acquired taste, he’s not your typical smooth melodic singer, more like Brian Johnson or Marc Storace.

HYDRA’s second album ”Rehydration” (RRRR) sounds a lot like Isolation-era Toto on steroids, with a strong injection of that Swedish AOR potion as well. Yes, they are from there… It’s all good material, with ”We Belong” and ”Eye Of The Storm” as my current favourites. There may be a few too many bands with a similar sound around, but credit where credit is due, Hydra are very good at what they do. 

SWEET have been around for a long time. In the seventies they scored a lot of bubblegum pop rock hits penned by the Chinn-Chapman duo, before branching out on their own. ”Fox On The Run” and ”Action” were two of their self-penned hits, and they’ve been covered by several hard rock bands who cite Sweet as one of their biggest influences. 

Once the band’s mainstream popularity waned, their story got so complicated that I won’t even attempt to summarize it. Now in 2024, the Sweet that has recorded ”Full Circle” (RRR) contains the original guitarist Andy Scott and a cast of British musicians, including vocalist Lee Small of Shy/Lionheart fame.

The echoes from the seventies are evident some of these songs. You’ll hear the swirling synths of ”Fox On The Run” somewhere there, and the high-pitched harmonies the band was known for. Some of the songs. Aren’t really blessed with good melodies, but there are a few rather fine, timeless melodic rock tracks among the 11 songs: ”Fire In My Heart”, ”Rising Up” and the power-balladic ”Everything” with its’ massive chorus.

HEARTWIND’s ”III” (RRRR) is almost like a compilation album, ”Best of Swedish Hard Rock”. The core of the band is the trio of Göran Engvall (guitar), Mikael Rosengren (keys) and Peter Svensson (drums), who have been active in the Swedish rock scene for several years.  Engvall and Rosengren were also heavily involved in writing the songs on the first Circle Of Friends album. For this third album they’ve invited a lot of familiar Swedish rockers to participate. Vocalists include Jacob Samuel (The Poodles), Robert van Der Zwan (Remedy), Matti Alfonzetti (Bam Bam Boys, Jagged Edge), Andreas Novak (House Of Shakira), Rick Altzi (Masterplan) and Thomas Vikström (Talk Of The Town), while other musicians include Nalle Påhlsson, Fredrik Folklore and Henrik Bergqvist, to name a few.  

An all-star cast doesn’t necessarily mean an amazing album, but in this case the outcome is very good. The Heartwind guys know how to write melodic rock songs, and the 10 songs here are all enjoyable. My favourites include ”Warrior”, ”Facing The Night”, ”Now Is The Time” and ”Brothers”. 

And while on the subject of CIRCLE OF FRIENDS…”Cherokee Moon” (RRRr) is the second project under that moniker. Just like the first one ”The Garden”, this one features a few covers and songs especially written for it, sung by various singers. I liked the first one more, mainly because the songs were better. There are a couple of very good originals on this one too, and the covers aren’t bad, but mostly not that exciting either. The highlights include ”Starlight”, sung by Olivia Dei Chicci, who is the daughter of Robin Beck and James Christian and the Rainbow classic ”Can’t Let You Go”, featuring Harry Hess of Harem Scarem. The Spotify version and Japanese CD edition include ”No Candle In The Window”, which is sung by Jeff Scott Soto. The song is a remake of the James Christian solo track from his first solo album, but for some reason the chorus has been re-written, and I wonder why? It was perfect as it was, and now the song kind of loses momentum when the chorus comes.