Rating: RRRRLabel: Escape Music 2013
Review by Kimmo Toivonen
The first N.O.W. album "Force Of Nature" was a decent enough debut, but lacked some urgency. For this second effort, songwriter Alec Mendoca has done what I hoped he'd do, the songs sound much more passionate. Of course, the superb and intense vocals of Philip Bardowell add a lot to the overall picture. Still, although the songs are intense and passionate, they're still kind of soothing and mellow in a good way. Nice combination.
"Bohemian Kingdom" is the kind of album that could appeal to the fans of Foreigner, Journey, Harlan Cage or even Deep Purple's lighter moments. If you want to check out some tunes, I'd strongly recommend "I Feel Divine" with its' magical chorus, the Eddie Money meets Harlan Cage like "Tonight Is The Night" and the title-track which has a bit of a Survivor vibe. The unusually titled ballad "Leon's Going Soft" is something special too, with a stronger chorus it could've been a future AOR classic, now it's just very good.
You won't find a bad song on the album, each one of them has something to sink your teeth into. Mind you, this is not an instant album and I took me a a couple of spins to get hooked to these melodies... worth the effort I'd say.
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