Rock Blog #55: Malmö Melodic pre-festival special

 We’re a few days away from Malmö Melodic festival, and I’ve been listening to the artists performing there almost exclusively for the last few days. I put together a playlist of the most recent material from each artist, and as it happens, many of them have released new albums recently. I’ve already reviewed some of them, but let’s go through a few more.

FIGHTER V’s third album ”Deja Vu” didn’t make that much of an impression after the first spin, I thought it was okay but nowhere near as good as their previous one. But I stand corrected, it’s a good one. I might still prefer its’ predecessor ”Heart Of The Young”, but ”Deja Vu” has plenty to enjoy. The songs aren’t carved from the same wood, there’s a lot of variety.  There’s the groovy, almost funky title track, then a couple of synth-driven tracks (”Victory” and ”Break Those Limits”) which remind me a bit of Beast In Black and that sort of stuff and then there’s the more AOR-type of stuff like ”For All This Time” and ”Hold The Time” with its’ infectious ”Runaway” keyboards. I also realized that vocalist Emmo Acar could do a fine job in an Eddie Money tribute act! ”Walk On Water” from the Moneyman’s repertoire - there’s an idea for a cover song for Fighter V. You’re welcome! This album gets a RRRR rating. I’m really looking forward to seeing the band live!

ALIEN released their latest album ”When Yesterday Comes Around” (RRRr) last year, but I never reviewed it. I guess it’s because I never really warmed to it. The Alien discography hasn’t been the most consistent one, they started with an AOR classic but then got lost in the shuffle of vocalists and whatnot. I did like the original line-up’s ”comeback album” ”Eternity”, a ”true return to form”, to use an old cliche. ”WYCA” does have its’ moments, ”In The End We Fall” and ”If Love Is War” being the highlights. The rest of it is absolutely enjoyable, not bad by any means but somehow not that memorable. There are bluesy moments and maybe a bit of 70’s classic vibe in the songs. Jim Jidhed’s vocals are outstanding as always, just check out the Perryisms of ”I Remember”… As for the Malmö Melodic setlist, many songs from the debut, the first two songs from this and a few from ”Eternity”, please!

HARDLINE’s ”Shout” (RRRr) has gotten some rave reviews, and it does sound very powerful, I’ll give them that. I have a feeling that some these songs might work just fine in a live setting. The title track is bound to be a crowd favourite and I definitely want to hear it next weekend. ”Mother Love” is another, one of the more AOR’ish songs of the album. Then again, there are a couple of songs that sound suspiciously similar to classic tracks from the band’s legendary debut, and I’d rather hear the originals than them. The Scorpions cover ”When You Came Into My Life” is well executed, but I never really considered it as one of their best, so… Maybe it’ll be in the setlist, and it might blow me away, who knows.

SARAYASIGN. ”Shadows Of The Dying Light” (RRR) is their third album, and I really should like them more. They fall into the same category as Perfect Plan, Arctic Rain and a few others, but are arguably fairly heavier. I keep thinking of Allen-Lande, Masterplan or Magnus Karlsson’s Free Fall. All bands I like, but somehow I haven’t gotten into this band yet. Maybe they’ll convert me from the stage, we’ll see. From this album, my pick is the opening track ”Worlds Apart (Shadowlands)”. 

CAUGHT IN ACTION made it to my ”Top 30 of 2025” with their ”Out Of The Cold” album (RRRR). To the last position, but to the list anyway. I don’t recall reviewing the album, so let’s have a listen… Oh yeah, solid stuff, very typical Swedish AOR sound, but good songs!  ”Nathalie” and ”Shot In The Dark” get my vote as the best tracks of the album. 

BOULEVARD’s latest one ”Talk Without Speaking” (RRR) has flown below my radar. It was released in early May, and I admit that I haven’t given it that much airtime. I liked their previous album and I think there’s a place and time for this album, but it’s not going to be a favourite of mine. It’s polished, meticulously produced and somehow poetic, but maybe it goes a bit too much into the style of Sting, Peter Gabriel and that kind of ”thinking man’s adult rock”. There’s a couple of gems here that I hope they have in the setlist though: ”Heaven Help Me” (massive chorus) and ”Start All Over Again”. The band does have a tendency to great magical moments live, so I’ll be looking forward to their set anyway. 

Apart from these, I've already reviewed the latest albums from Tyketto, Eclipse, Midnite City, Emotional Fire, Brother Firetribe, Art Nation and Wig Wam elsewhere. 

I'm looking forward to checking out each one of the bands in the festival line-up, even the ones that I'm not too familiar with, not that there are too many of those. It will be a fantastic weekend!

RockBlog #54: Keys, Black Swan, Tyketto, Eve, Chez Kane, Hokka

It's been a while since the last time, so here's a rather decent portion of words of wisdom, opinionated bickering or plain old nonsense from an old geezer about some new and new-ish albums from yours truly... you decide, the truth is out there. But yeah, I'm almost up to date when it comes to new releases of our genre... "almost" being a fairly vague description.

KEYS - the project of Mark Mangold (Touch, Drive She Said) and Jake E. (Amaranthe, Cyhra) has released their third album ”Infinity Parabellum” (RRR) this year. The idea of Keys was that Mangold creates all the music with keyboards, except for vocals of course. Alex Landenburg plays drums on some of the tracks.

I have heard the previous two albums and compared to them, this latest effort sounds better, especially when it comes to the drums. The overtly plastic and programmed sound of the earlier stuff is mostly gone. 

Songwise the material ranges from modern metal of ”Catapult” and ”Jannus” via the AOR of ”When The Night Calls” to the hazy seventies prog weirdness of ”Lost In Time”. Mangold and Jake E. are definitely not trying to play it safe. At times this is quite fascinating, but some of the material just goes over my head.

The supergroup BLACK SWAN’s third album ”Paralyzed” (RRRR) might just be their best one so far. Featuring Robin McAuley on vocals (McAuley Schenker Group, Grand Prix, Survivor), Reb Beach (Winger, Whitesnake), Jeff Pilson (Dokken, Foreigner) and Matt Starr (Ace Frehley, Mr. Big), this is more like a real band than one of the many Frontiers Records’ projects, as the members are writing the songs themselves and even taking care of the production duties. 

If you’ve enjoyed McAuley Schenker Group, Winger and Dokken albums, I’m pretty sure you’ll find a lot to enjoy  on this album as well. McAuley is one of those 80’s vocalists who can still deliver, his vocals are superb throughout the album. There are some subtle traces of the members’ past here and there, but nothing that screams ”old song rehashed”. It doesn’t get much better than the opening track ”When The Cold Wind Blows”, one of the best new hard rock songs I’ve heard lately, although ”Paralyzed”, ”Death Of Me” and ”If I Was King” and a couple of other are challenging it quite well. 

It’d be great to see this band live - they could potentially put together an amazing setlist, with the best of their own songs and some classic tracks from their previous bands. 

TYKETTO’s ”Don’t Come Easy” is a classic album in the genre, which would have made them superstars if it had been released a few years earlier instead of 1991. Still, they did reach a cult status, and after a few years’ break (1996-2004) they have been active in the scene again, although vocalist Danny Vaughn is the only original member these days.

”Closer To The Sun” (RRRr) is the band’s latest album, and it’s been hailed as ”a return to form”, ”the best thing since the debut” and so on, but I’m not that convinced. The band’s overall sound and especially Vaughn’s vocals are somehow instantly likeable and welcoming, but when it comes to the songs, I feel that some of them are fairly ordinary. There are moments of brilliance, such as ”Starts With A Feeling” and the ballad ”The Picture”, but then again, ”Donnowhuddidis”, ”Harleys & Indians” and a couple others leave me cold. It’ll be interesting to see whether these songs come to life when I hopefully get to hear some of them live in Malmö later this year.  

Then something a bit different… EVE is a Finnish solo artist, who’s been on a hiatus for years. His full name is Jarkko Eve, and in the eighties, he was the bass player in Dingo, a band that broke all the records during their short existence. Eve left the band soon after the release of their first album, and started a successful, if again fairly short-lived, solo career. I rate his first two albums highly, he had a sophisticated, international sound although he sang in Finnish. Big hooks, cool arrangements and charismatic vocals. 

Now, some 40 years later, Eve returns with a new album, and the description above is a valid as ever. With Finnish producer/songwriter guru Jimmy Westerlund (One Desire, Giant) adding his touches to the album, ”Viimeinen Mohikaani” (RRRRr) is easily one of the best albums of the year. Definitely worth checking out even though it’s sung in Finnish, the music is excellent! Lots of 80's rock and pop stylings, but with a modern touch. This is Finnish Adult Oriented Rock in 2026. 

CHEZ KANE continues her collaboration with Crazy Lixx’ Danny Rexon, who has written and produced her two previous albums. If you’re familiar with those, you can pick up this one knowing that the style hasn’t changed. These songs are tributes to the glory days of 80’s female rock artists - Vixen, Lita Ford, Lee Aaron. I might even add Samantha Fox to the list. The album is called ”Reckless” (shout out to Bryan Adams there!) and as the ”top shelf magazine”-type of artwork might suggest, the lyrics are full of passionate nights, tongues of love and other  steamy scenes. Chez hasn’t been too shy before, but she and Danny have really gone a bit more reckless with this one.

The Vixenesque title track opens the album and it’s one of my favourites: big hooks and a driving groove. Next pick would be ”Night Of Passion” ( Hey there, Mad Max!), which has a bit of a synth wave vibe and it also takes me back to some eighties’ soundtracks. The pulsating, throbbing keys of the mid-tempo banger ”Tongue Of Love” make it irrestistable, and it gets the the third slot on my favourites’ list. The fourth and final place goes to ”Bodyrock” ( Hello, Lee Aaron!), which again has that soundtrack feel - isn’t there a movie called ”Bodyrock” too? As for the rest of the songs, they’re all decent enough and have grown on me, but at this point ”RRRR”-rating will have to do. 

HOKKA is a new band founded by former Blind Channel singer Joel Hokka and Pauli Rantasalmi, ex-The Rasmus guitarist. Their debut ”Via Miseria IV” (RRRR) could be described as a tailor-made album for anyone into the dark, melancholic Finnish rock/metal sound of the last twenty years or so. You can hear The Rasmus, HIM, Blind Channel and others in these songs. The first single was ”In The Darkness”, and it’s very much in the vein of The Rasmus at their very best - the hook is immense, we’re talking about a Desmond Child-sized chorus! The Rasmus-comparison pops up in some other songs as well. ”Heart Said No”, ”Angels Fall” and a couple of others have a strong HIM influence, while the bouncy ”Bon Apetit” takes a left turn to the direction of Muse. Anyway, big hooks galore and apart from the choruses, the band has really paid attention to bridges too - check out the ultra-melodic bridge of ”Blackbird” for example. 

RockBlog #53: Induction, Tailgunner, Dennis Churchill Dries, Lou Gramm

INDUCTION is a band from Germany, and ”Love Kills!” (RRRR) is their third album. The leader of the band is Tim Hansen, son of Kai Hansen (Helloween, Gamma Ray), and Tim is following in his father’s footsteps, playing melodic metal. I don’t hear direct links to Halloween or Gamma Ray, although Induction isn’t too far stylewise. Their sound is closer to Beast In Black and Powerwolf, the newer generation of Power Metal. Gabriele Gozzi’s high vocals draw comparisons to Beast in Black, as well as some of the arrangements. 

The first two songs ”Virtual Insanity” and ”War Of Hearts” are very much in BiB vein, but excellent nevertheless, catchy like the flu! As the title suggests, ”Steel And Thunder” is an old school Power Metal track and probably the closest thing to the Hansen family legacy. It reminds me more of Axxis though - not to be taken too seriously. The song that lead me to discover this album was ”Strangers To Love”, a delicious mix of AOR and Power Metal, with Clémentine Delauney of Visions Of Atlantis sharing the lead vocals with Gozzi.

The title track ”Love Kills” and ”I Am Evil” are both rather straightforward, catchy songs, while ”The Veil Of Affection” is a double bass drum driven power metal track, yet I keep thinking that it has a bit of a H.E.A.T. vibe too. Or maybe Jona Tee’s power metal offshoot New Horizon more likely. 

The last song ”Empress” builds up nicely to the chorus, but the actual chorus is a bit funny. I keep hearing the choir singing ”Kiss the princess, something something dark”, and I can’t get over that… points for the Accept-style guitar solo with the strategically placed familiar melodies!

If induction’s metal could be described as ”Happy Euro Metal”, UK’s TAILGUNNER play very traditional, slightly more aggressiveI metal - think Iron Maiden, Judas Priest… ”Midnight Blitz” (RRRr) is their second album, and their career seems to be on an upward trajectory. I can see why, they are very good at this Power Metal thing. 

The album is solid metal from the first track to the last, but what they need are a few standout tracks to elevate them to the next level. Th title track and ”Tears In Rain” are pretty close already. If you’re into classic metal sound, do check them out!

DENNIS CHURCHILL DRIES is best known as the vocalist of cult AOR heroes WHITE SISTER and its’ more bluesy, southern rock-flavoured successor TATTOO RODEO. ”Crazy Is This Life” (RRR) is his second solo album.

Produced by DCD and Steve Newman, this album is closer to White Sister than Tattoo Rodeo in sound and style, Before you get all excited, it’s still quite far from the Pomp Glory Days of White Sister. More synth sounds than Rodeo’s Hammonds though, and the blues and southern rock influences are evident on 2 or 3 songs only.

The standout track is the opener ”Angeline”, which is very much in the vein of White Sister indeed. Unfortunately it could have used a little crispier production. Somehow the other songs sound better. As for the rest of the tracks, ”Bring Back Yesterday”, the title track, ”Don’t Look Back” and ”I Never Thought It Was Love” are good ones too. ”I Never Thought…” is very chorus-heavy, and that chorus sounded familiar right away… it took a while to realize that the melody reminds me of ”Right Here Waiting” by Richard Marx - a completely different type of a song though! 

I have eagerly waited LOU GRAMM’s ”Released” (RRRR) to be… released ever since I heard the first single ”Young Love”. This is album is a collection of previously unreleased songs from Gramm’s archives, dating back to the late eighties and early nineties. The songs were dug up from the vault, polished and finished recently. They’re all co-written by Bruce Turgon, one of my favourite songwriters with a definite style of his own. 

”Young Love” features Vivian Campbell on guitar, which suggests that it is a leftover from the Shadow King era. That album is one of my all time favourites, and this song would have fitted into it quite nicely. ”Lightning Strikes” has that Shadow King vibe as well, a certain very enchanting darkness, trademark of Turgon’s songwriting. ”Walk The Walk” is a gritty rocker, I hear a bit of ”Urgent” in it, while ”Long Gone” takes me back to the two first Lou Gramm albums, a laid back rock track with a nice chorus. The vocal sounds like it was recently recorded. ”Heart And Soul” is a bit average, but ”Long Hard Look” sounds better, another gritty rocker with several ”Turgon touches”. Why it didn’t make it to album by the same name I can’t understand…

The piano-led version of ”True Blue Love” transforms the pop-rocker into a heartfelt ballad. Next up is ”Deeper Side Of Love”, an okay track with an understated chorus. There are familiar elements in the mid tempo AOR track ”Time Heals The Pain”. Apparently some ideas of it were recycled to Foreigner’s ballad ”Until The End Of Time” on ”Mr. Moonlight” album.  ”Time Heals...” does have an excellent chorus of its’ own, and it’s one my favourites on this album. The very Shadow King-like ”Word Gets Around” could have used a stronger chorus, but otherwise it’s a cool song with tasty keyboards and a brilliant vocal from Mr. Gramm, as usual. 

Frankly, this album came pretty much out of the blue,  but I am happy these songs were indeed ”released”. Bruce Turgon’s songwriting and the voice of an absolute AOR legend Lou Gramm, that’s a match made in melodic heaven!

TRANSATLANTIC RADIO: ”Midnight Transmission”

 

2026 Frontiers

Rating: RRRRR

Review by Kimmo Toivonen

It’s late March as I write this review. That the winter is loosening its’ stranglehold on us and we’re heading towards the summer. Earlier today, I was driving around town, the sun was shining, I had ”Midnight Transmission” playing in the car stereo… and life was just a little bit better than usual! This album could very well be the soundtrack of summer 2026, because it’s everything I could ask from a summer album - plenty of uptempo songs with uplifting melodies and sharp hooks, wrapped up in excellent production! 

As the name of the band might suggest, Transatlantic Radio is an international band with members from USA, Australia and Sweden. The band was founded by Swedish-born bassist Victor Brodén and the lead vocalist Mattias Osbäck is also from Sweden, so it comes as no surprise that the melodic sensibility the Swedes seem to be born with is very much evident in these songs. Must be something in the water…

The music of Transatlantic Radio is unashamedly retro, classic AOR with a sound that takes me back to the million dollar productions of the late eighties. Think Def Leppard’s ”Hysteria”,  Journey’s ”Raised On Radio”, the first Danger Danger album. 

”That’s What You Get (For Falling In Love)” has been chosen as the opener, and it is in an excellent choice. A laidback, yet urgent melodic rocker with massive harmonies and a killer chorus. ”City Of Angels” is a bit grittier, but still ultra-melodic. For ”Wide Awake” the band add an extra portion of grit, the intro reminds me a bit of AC/DC! Fear not, the melodies start flooding after a few bars and the chorus is layered with harmony vocals and keyboards. 

It’s unusual for an AOR album, but ”Midnight Transmission” doesn’t really have a single ballad on it. ”Fever Dream” is the closest thing to one, but I’d classify it as a moody mid-tempo song. Think Def Leppard’s ”Hysteria” again, and I’m talking about the song by that name. After this change of pace, ”The Good Times” takes us back to the Danger Danger’ish party AOR vibe, with an effective ”whoah”-loaded chorus. 

For my ears, the Swedish melodic sensibility is most evident in ””First To Be The Last” and ”Against All The Odds”, which remind me a bit of 80’s Alien and Treat. In between them there’s ”All For You”, which sounds like a cross between Journey and Toto. 

The last song ”Born To Rise” tries to fool you that it’s a Jim Steinman-inspired ballad with its’ piano intro, but it soon turns into a full-blown AOR track. I hear traces of the Christian band Whiteheart in this song for some reason. 

So there you have it. The first 5R album of 2026. Not a single weak song, superb performances and a top-notch production. Can’t ask for much more, can I? Okay, I’m not 100% sold on the artwork, wasn’t that idea used on Bon Jovi’s ”Bounce” already? It’s the content that matters though, and that’s worthy of the full set of R’s!

RockBlog #52: Petra, Temple Balls, Emotional Fire, Beyond The Black, Symphony Of Sweden

Approximately two months of 2026 are behind us, so it’s time to check out some of the music released so far. 

First we have ”Hope”, a somewhat surprising comeback album from Christian Rock legends PETRA. They were one of my favourite bands back in the late eighties and actually the first major international band I saw live, way back in 1991. They officially called it quits in 2005, but have played in different formations occasionally every now and then. Now, more than 20 years after their previous studio album, the band is back, touring and recording. They’re scheduled to play in Finland this March, and I have tickets! 

In my books, ”Hope” is probably the best Petra album since ”Unseen Power”. I didn’t have high expectations, but the band sounds quite re-energized!  The heavy and gritty ”Filthy Lucre” opens the album convincingly, followed by a selection of songs in various styles. There’s ”We Rejoice In Hope”, a bouncy praise song, a couple of ballads, but mostly it’s hard rock with good hooks. ”Thorns” and ”Deliver Us” made it to my Best of Petra playlist straight away - the fact that they can still come up with songs this good is something special. Let’s just not talk about the reggae experiment ”Oxygen”…. Rating: RRRR

The Finnish hard rock band TEMPLE BALLS suffered a major loss recently, when their guitarist Niko Vuorela lost his battle against cancer. Their new, self-titled album features his contributions and serves as a fitting tribute to his passion and spirit. 

Produced once again by Jona Tee of H.E.A.T., the album is an energetic slab of hard rock. Riffs and shout-along choruses galore, and I get flashbacks to the late eighties stuff from Steelheart and Victory. Jona Tee’s influence can be heard on the songs, and if you like H.E.A.T., you can’t really go wrong with this album.

The bangin’ hard rock songs are very good, but the top pick for me is ”The Path Within”, which showcases the band at their most melodic. Still, ”There Will Be Blood”, ”Stronger Than Fire” and ”Soul Survivor” and many others have tremendous hooks as well. This one gets RRRRr from me!

EMOTIONAL FIRE from Sweden were put together by formed by Ron and Nina Dahlgren, who are behind the project GATHERING OF KINGS as well. Initially the band was an all-female project, but these days there are two members of the original line-up in the band, vocalist Therés Enström and drummer Linnea Waljestål, with Pär Eriksson (guitars), Daniel Myhr (keyboards), and Oliver Lee (bass). Waljestål is the band's producer and main songwriter. About half of the material of the band's debut "Rising" has been penned by prolific Swedish songwriters Alpenborg/Lönnqvist/Altzi. There's one cover on the album, "The Beast In Me". It was originally recorded by Bonnie Pointer for the "Heavenly Bodies" soundtrack (1985). The band has previously released a a cover of their namesake song, written by Desmond Child, Diane Warren and Michael Bolton, but that didn't make it to the album.

Robin Beck, Alyson Avenue, Laos... just some of the names that pop up when listening to this album. The voice of Therés  Enström is powerful and quite distinctive and she definitely adds personality to these songs. One could argue that these are "AOR by numbers" and I kind of felt like that after the first spin too. However, the songs started to show their true colors after repeated listening, and I now I have to say that I quite like them all. Highlights: "Turn Around (And Walk Away)", "Be With You", "Will You Be There". I might have swapped "Don't Lose Yourself" with that aforementioned "Emotional Fire", because "Don't Lose..." sounds like it desperately wants to be a Journey song. Anyway, the album gets a very strong RRRR. Additional "r" was quite close!

In the over-saturated genre of melodic metal one needs something to make them stand out. BEYOND THE BLACK seem to have decided that adding some not-so-typical vocal stylings, languages and effects is the way to go. Their latest album "Break The Silence" has several tracks that feature some different flavors. Some of them work well, some don't.

The first single from the album, "Rising High", comes with a weird male vocal chant (is that Mongolian Throat singing?). Can't say I like it, it sounds as if it has been pasted in as an afterthought, and the song itself isn't one of the better ones. The again, the Bulgarian vocals of Gergana Dimitrova blend in nicely with Jennifer Haben's on "Let There Be Rain", which is one of my favourites from the album. The duet with Lord Of The Lost, "The Art Of Being Alone" is a rather conventional duet, and it's another favourite of mine. The there's "The Flood" with an annoying robot voice, which is one of the less successful experiments. The robot returns for "(La Vie East un) Cinema", thankfully only briefly. "Can You Hear Me" features guest vocals from Asami of Lovebites, a Japanese metal band, and I would say that this combination works well. I have to mention "Hologram" as well, even though it doesn't have anything "weird" in it - it's just a very strong track! 

So, "Break The Silence" is a bit of a mixed bag but it's quite interesting and the best songs are great. RRRR.

SYMPHONY OF SWEDEN describe themselves as "the missing link between pop and metal". Their latest album "Stand My Ground" does fit that description, even though I'm not sure whether the link has been missing - a lot of bands have combined these elements quite successfully. 

Anyway, some of these songs sound like metalized versions of E-Type or some other 90's eurodance act, while others take cues from the long tradition of Swedish hit song writing in general. Some symphonic elements are added, and I'm pretty sure that "We Go Off Tonight" has been influenced by "Cha Cha Cha" by Käärijä. 

With each song around the 3 minute mark, Symphony Of Sweden are not writing epic symphonies. Instead, they write unashamedly commercial songs with hooks mercilessly hammered to your head. They do have a softer side too: half of the songs are more or less balladic, with echoes of Europe, Roxette and maybe even Ghost. 

For the record, I don't think "commercial" is something terrible, the bigger the hook the better. While this album is very chorus-heavy and each song has certain hit potential, I do think that some of the hooks are somewhat too simple and repeated endlessly. RRRr.

That's all for now, I might be back with more reviews sooner than you think... at the moment I'm listening to Induction - very Beast In Black-ish, not too shabby! 

Rock Blog #51: The Best Of 2025!

This year was a pretty good one. There were no albums that got the full RRRRR review from me, but a dozen or so which recieved the next best thing, 4 and a half R's. As it happens, there seemed to be 30 albums that got RRRR or better, so therefore, I present you...

My Top 30 Albums of 2025 in some kind of an order:

(note: no EP's, compilations or live albums included!)

Treat – The Wild Card

Crowne – Wonderland

H.E.A.T – Welcome To The Future

Dynazty – Game of Faces

Midnite City – Bite The Bullet

The Night Flight Orchestra – Give Us The Moon

Perfect Plan – Heart Of A Lion

The Switch – No Way Out

Giant – Stand and Deliver

Ghost – Skeletá

Wildness – Avenger

Mantric Momentum – Alienized

Shiraz Lane – In Vertigo

Battle Beast – Steelbound

Avantasia – Here Be Dragons

Crazy Lixx – Thrill of the Bite

Captain Black Beard – Chasing Danger

Creeper – Sanguivore II: Mistress of Death

Lordi – Limited Deadition

The Rasmus – Weirdo

Art Nation – The Ascendance

Harem Scarem – Chasing Euphoria

W.E.T. – Apex

Sisters Doll – Scars

Arion – The Light That Burns the Sky

Andy And The Rockets – Casino

Bonfire – Higher Ground

Laguna – The Ghost of Katrina

Ray Of Light – Salute

Caught in Action – Out of the Cold

An observation: the number of Swedish bands on this list is high, strange! Apparently the Swedish way to handle melodies appeals to me. I am glad to say that there are quite a few Finnish acts on the list too. Brother Firetribe's EP would have been a contender for the top position, but I chose to stick to the full albums only.

If you want to check out my favourite songs of 2025, I've made a Spotify playlist! 

Rock Blog #50: Treat, Stargazery, Midnite City

I could be accused of not using the whole scale of R’s when it comes to these reviews of mine, and that would be correct. Do you want to know why? It’s because there’s so much music released these days, and while I do check out a lot of albums, I really don’t want to spend too much time on listening to music that doesn’t appeal to me for one reason or another. So basically most of the stuff I review is something that I like or otherwise important releases in the genres RockUnited.Com covers. Back in the days when labels and artists sent us physical copies we tried to review everything, but nowadays that would be impossible. Even without Spotify, there’s so much stuff being sent to us for streaming or download, that I could spend every moment I’m awake listening to something, and still not be able to listen to it all. Now, having gotten that off my chest, here’s a few albums I’ve been listening to lately, and none of them suck!

TREAT has been one of my favorite bands since the mid-eighties. As many of the 80’s hard rock bands, they  broke up during the nineties, but made a glorious comeback in 2010 with ”Coup De Grace” and have released four studio albums since then, with brand new one ”The Wild Card” (RRRRr) being the latest of those.

”The Wild Card” is a fine example of modern-day AOR which bridges the sounds of 2025 with Treat’s 80’s style quite nicely. This doesn’t sound like retro-rock, even though they sing about ”1985” and so on. The songs are polished, fine-tuned and meticulously produced, with emphasis on big hooks and perfectly crafted background vocals. Obviously Robert Ernlund’s lead vocals have been touched upon and sometimes it’s not that subtle, but then again, it’s 2025…

Anders Wickström is one of my favourite songwriters, and I think he doesn’t get enough credit for that. As far as I’m concerned, he is a Hit Machine, coming up with superb melodies and choruses at an alarming rate! All 13 songs on ”The Wild Card” have those, and while I initially thought I had found my favourites quite easily, the less immediate ones have started to chase those, when it comes to the top positions. Anyway, at the moment my favourite track is the mid-tempo ”Heaven’s Waiting”, with ”1985”, ”Back To The Future” and ”One Minute To Breathe” very close. In the next batch there’s ”Rodeo”, ”Endeavour”, ”In The Blink Of An Eye”, ”Hand On Heart”… but if you ask me again in a couple of weeks, everything might have changed. 

STARGAZERY aren’t messing around with modern influences. ”Carnival Puppeteers” (RRRr) sounds like it could have been released in 1987, which really isn’t a bad thing. They draw their influences mostly from the melodic heavy metal of 80’s and 70’s: Rainbow, Dio, Malmsteen and the likes. 

Jari Tiura’s heroic vocals are quite unique, I can’t really think of anyone else who sounds like him. Maybe a mixture of Kal Swan (Lion, Bad Moon Rising) and Ronnie James Dio could be close… or maybe not. There’s a Dio cover ”Rainbow In The Dark” on the album and Tiura does a decent job on it. The Spotify version of the album contains also another cover, Def Leppard’s ”Too Late For Love”, which isn’t quite as convincing, vocally or otherwise. Maybe the original is so strongly etched to my brain that nothing else will do.

As for the band’s own songs, my favourites are the title track, ”Strangers Before Blood” and ”Can You Deny”.  All three have some majestic keyboards and good hooks. Towards the end of the album, my interest seems to wane and the last few songs don’t do much for me. 

If you like traditional melodic metal like the bands mentioned above or someone like Axel Rudi Pell, do yourself a favor and give ”Carnival Puppeteers” a spin, not to mention the band’s older output. 

MIDNITE CITY have been around since 2017 and they’ve been quite productive with 5 full-length albums and an EP. ”Bite Te Bullet” (RRRRr) is the album number 5, released last month (November 2025). If you have liked the previous ones, you can make a blind purchase with this one, as the band is staying on their chosen path. As before, their songs range from Party Hard Rock to more melodic AOR, with influences from Danger Danger, Def Leppard, Alice Cooper and the other masters of the genres. 

So what do we have here? The Aerosmith-meets-80sAlice Cooper swagger of ”Live Like Ya Mean It” kicks down the door to the party house with a heavy boot. The AOR-friendly ”Worth Fighting For” and ”It’s Going To Be Alright” take us away to the other room, where the mood is more introspective and emotional. The album’s stand out track ”Heaven In This Hell” has a strong Alice Cooper-vibe again, ”Spark In The Dark”-guitars and a chorus that Desmond Child would be proud of, and we’re back in the party room… the AOR room calls us with ”Running Back To Your Heart”, but ”Lethal Dose Of Love” says it’s still time to rock out, with its’ clever guitar work and shout-along chorus. 

With the melancholic instrumental ”Archer’s Song”, the band lead us to the rooftop terrace, where the view is  beautiful and we can settle to the AOR mood with the balladic ”Seeing Is Believing”, Bon Jovi’sh ”No One Wins”, the catchy ”Hang On Til Tomorrow” and ”When The Summer Ends”. The last song might make you want to shed a few Blue Tears, it’s that good. As is the whole album, I think this might be the best Midnite City album so far.