Album round-up/ Summer of 2020 (part one)

Mini-reviews by Kimmo Toivonen

Since I haven’t had the chance to write too many reviews this summer, I thought I’d do a ”round-up” of some of the recent releases which have impressed me (and the others haven't reviewed). 

Let’s start with UK’s COLLATERAL and their self-titled debut album (rating: RRRR). One of the most exciting debuts of the year, Collateral deliver us a big-sounding album with touches of Bon Jovi, Def Leppard and Gotthard, while occasionally taking a left turn to a country and western direction! Highlights include ”Mr. Big Shot”, ”In It For Love” and ”Midnight Queen”. 

Finnish AMBERIAN DAWN converted me with their previous album ”Darkness Of Eternity”. Before that I had kind of mislabeled them as one of the numerous Goth Metal bands here, and never really given them the time of day. Wrong, very wrong! With their last few albums the band has created a genre of their own, ”Abba-metal”. And I like it! Big melodies, plenty of keyboards, lovely vocals from Capri and a bit of Nightwish’y touches. ”Looking For You” is their latest album, and it deserves a RRRRr rating. My favourite tracks include the catchy title track, ”Go For A Ride” and ”Eternal Fire Burning”, to name a few.

Another Finnish band THE RAGGED SAINTS released their second album ”Sonic Playground Revisited”, and it ended also on my ”2020 Top Albums” playlist. Recommended for fans of Brother Firetribe, although the Saints are maybe a bit darker and rougher-edged. But plenty of strong hooks, check out ”Take Me With You” and ”Always Forever” for example. RRRR.

THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA have released solid albums, but their previous one ”Sometimes The World Ain’t Enough” tore the roof off and was one of my favourites of 2018. ”AEROMANTIC” (RRRR) isn’t as good, but not a disappointment either. The band’s curious late 70s/early 80’s retro-sound is very vintage sounding. On this album they take a couple of steps towards the late eighties - ”Golden Swansdown” sound uncannily like ”Vigilante”-era Magnum! Not to mention ”Divinyls” which borrows heavily from Roxette’s ”Good Karma”. Maybe it’s a Swedish thing, the origins of both songs might be in some Swedish golden oldie I’m just not aware of!

DYNAZTY have grown from a somewhat average hard rock band to a first class modern melodic metal band, and ”The Dark Delight” (RRRRr) is possibly their finest hour so far. It’s full of massive, gigantic hooks. Try to get the likes of ”Heartless Madness”  or ”The Black” out of your head after hearing them just once… no chance! Vocalist Nils Molin might be more well known as one of the vocalists of Amaranthe these days, but frankly, Dynazty has better songs…

A third Swedish band in a row… GATHERING OF KINGS released an absolutely stunning first album last year, and this year it was time for the ”difficult second album” syndrome… while ”Discovery” (RRRR) is a good album, its’ highlights do not reach the dizzying heights of those of the first album. 

The debut ONE DESIRE album got a lot of spins in our household in 2017, and after 3 long years, the guys finally released their second effort ”Midnight Empire” (RRRRr). It’s well worth the wait, and it showcases new sides of the band. The opener ”Shadowman” is heavy yet melodic, while the pop hooks of ”Godsent Exstasy” and ”Rio” are hard to resist. A special mention to ”Through The Fire”, an epic ballad, sung by guitarist Jimmy Westerlund. ”Giant meets Whitesnake in a Kingdom of Desire”. Having said that, the other ballad ”Only When I Breathe” doesn’t work for me at all, the chorus is painful!