Rock Blog #31: Palace, Amaranthe, Black Diamonds

MALMÖ MELODIC is going on as I write this, I should be there but it wasn’t possible this time. Apparently some really good sets have been played by bands like Houston, Romeo’s Daughter and Grand, to name a few. Maybe next time…

Meanwhile, I’ve been listening to a lot of music now that I’ve been on my own a couple of days, catching up on new releases and looking back at some old ones. 

The most listened artist this week has been PALACE, who just released his best album so far, ”Reckless Heart” (RRRRr). It’s tailormade for beautiful summer days and nights: uplifting, melodic, catchy! Some of the melodies have that annoying ”where have I heard this before” thing, but somehow it doesn’t bother me much, because the songs are so good!  There’s a song called ”Back To ´85” which might give you a clue about the style - the 80’s vibe is very strong here. You need references? How about Toto, Alias, Journey, Brother Firetribe, Nestor… that sort of ear candy.

I revisited the whole Palace back catalogue yesterday, and I think my second favourite album is ”Rock And Roll Radio”, with ”One 4 The Road” and ”Master Of The Universe” close behind. Strangely enough, Palace’s second album ”Binary Music” doesn’t really work for me, none of the songs made it to my ”Best Of Palace” playlist.

AMARANTHE’S ”The Catalyst” was released in February and it kind of slipped through the cracks after the first spin. I gave it another go the other day, and I like it. A few albums ago I was slowly losing faith in the band, but they’ve found their magic again. The title track, ”Damnation Flame”, ”Interference”, ”Outer Dimensions” and ”Resistance” are among my favourites. ”Bangers”, as the youngsters call ’em. RRRR

BLACK DIAMONDS, Swiss sleaze rockers left a positive impression with their previous album ”No-Tell Hotel”, and their latest one ”Destination Paradise”  (RRRR) is at least as good as that one. The vocals of Mich Kehl have that nasal snarl dominant in the glam/sleaze genre, but musically the band isn’t really that sleazy at all, their songs are melodic hard rock with strong hooks. Check out ”After The Rain”, ”Paradise” or ”Everyday Heroes”! Oh yeah, they cover Belinda Carlisle’s ”Leave A Light On”.

To be continued any day now!