Label: Frontiers
Review by Kimmo Toivonen
One of the most anticipated debuts this year is here, the first full-length album from CREYE. I knew that this was going to be good, based on their previous EP and a live performance in Malmö, and indeed this is!
Superbly produced by Erik Wiss, this album combines 80ies elements with modern-day pop/rock sound. The EP had a bit of a "retro synth wave" vibe and it's still here, only slightly toned down.
Art Nation vocalist Alexander Strandell sang on the EP but this album features the vocals of Robin Jidhed. The son of Alien's Jim Jidhed has a great, smooth voice for this kind of material, but I've yet to hear him perform live. The two Creye gigs I've seen so far have been with replacement singers.
With 13 songs on the album, there's maybe a couple of songs I would have left as Japanese bonus tracks or something, but that said, most of the others went straight to my "Highlights of 2018" playlist! "Christina", "Holding On", "Never Too Late" and the Survivor-esque "Nothing To Lose" are all classy modern AOR songs, just to mention a few.
In my opinion, the band's most potential crossover hit in the making is the balladic "All We Need Is Faith". I don't know what it would take to get this heard by the masses, but I don't see any reason why the huge European fanbase of say, Sunrise Avenue, wouldn't love this song.
I truly hope that CREYE is able to break down the barriers and find new fans outside the established AOR community, they deserve it... and the kids need to hear this!
www.creyesweden.com
https://www.facebook.com/creyesweden/
No comments:
Post a Comment