Label: Frontiers 2020
Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom
The latest project aka ambitious work of songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer: Magnus "Klister" Karlsson (Primal Fear, etc.) and we're still talking about melodic/symphonic metal with the rather poppy agenda. This time, Worlds Apart, and the male voice: Russell Allen (Symphony X, Adrenaline Mob) vs. the female dito in Anette Olzon. Reading the press-release, it's funny how they're completely trying to erase the musical past of Anette. She's obviously the vocalist from ALYSON AVENUE which yours truly raved about in their demo days (I still have unreleased stuff in my collection) and gave a helping hand. This eventually led to Nightwish and fame with lots of... Hey! Where's my transfer cut? Nevermind ;-)
This album is certainly well produced with plenty of symphony and keyboard moments, Klister riffs and flashy guitar solos. Fistfuls of classy arrangements from a Swedish point of view, but with an undertow of elegant musicanship courtesy of the solid songwriter and project maker at the Frontiers. Does it work? Well... Anette echoes the ABBA-history on tracks such as "I'll Never Leave You" and "One More Chance" and that's including the Swedish accent and the Poppy/Symphonic vibe. In fact. Check out RockUnited.com and our massive archive and you may notice that my thoughts of Anette were always on a positive note, but she may at times sound like the 'dansband' vocalist. AKA The place where all the rock/metal musicians go when all of their dreams have died. Believe it or not. Anette's vocals were actually recorded at the Alyson Avenue studio by Niclas Olsson. Kudos!
Russell Allen sound also great on most tracks, but I struggle to enjoy duets such as "My Enemy" where the two vocalists are worlds apart (pun intended) and never really close on the pitch nor scale. The refrain is painful to say the least and I tend to skip this tune asap. Borderline off-key most of the time to be honest. Final verdict: Flashy guitar-work, smashing keys, but a tad too predictable. You are simply not left with anything on here that will knock your socks off. It's all drama and no thriller in my books or movies for that matter. FYI. Klister is the Swedish word for glue and Karlsson was the brand of the past. Which sort of make sense as this is a rather sticky affair. You might enjoy this more than I did if you're into Swedish Drama Metal though.
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