Rock Blog #48: The Rasmus, The Switch, Stan Bush

THE RASMUS is back! With their new album ”Weirdo” (RRRR) the band has found some of their magic again. For my money, ever since the release of ”Black Roses” (2008) the band has been  more or less lost, with only a few memorable songs on each of their albums. I had high hopes for their previous album ”Rise”, which featured the rather good Eurovision Song Contest entry ”Jezebel”, but the album wasn’t that great. Now, with Desmond Child taking a bigger role (9 out of 10 songs feature him as a co-writer) and the band re-establishing themselves as a rock band, things are going to the right direction. 

The first half of the album contains the singles released before the album, ”Rest In Pieces”, ”Creatures Of Chaos” and ”Break These Chains”, all representing the hard-edged, darker side of the band. The same goes for ”Deadringer”, which is actually the catchiest of these four and a potential single too. The chorus is awfully familiar sounding though, but I haven’t been able to find which song it reminds me of. The latest single ”Weirdo” is probably my favourite track of the album, a semi-ballad with a massive chorus and The Funeral Portrait as a featured artist. 

The second half of the album contains a few surprises. ”Banksy” and ”Love Is A Bitch” remind me of the ”Into” album with their playfulness. The whistling part on ”Love Is A Bitch” is again very familiar and again I can’t figure out why! ”You Want It All” is another balladic track and one of my favourites, with echoes of some old Desmond Child ballads in the chorus. ”Bad Things” is a good rocker with cool verses and a nice build-up to the chorus, but the chorus itself lacks something, it’s a bit too simple. Anyway, this song is a distant relative of Ratt’s ”Lovin’ You’s A Dirty Job”. The closing track is ”I’m Coming For You”, a softer track more in style of the band’s recent output, but much more interesting with its’ haunting melodies and melancholic atmosphere.

British songwriter brothers James and Tom Martin have already left their mark on the modern melodic rock scene with Vega, Nitrate and their other numerous songwriting contributions. THE SWITCH is their first project where they are in total control, so these songs represent the ”Sound Of The Martin Bros” 100 per cent. The foundation is the 80’s melodic rock and synth pop: layers of keyboards, big hooks and great, emotional vocals by Bobby John. While this might suggest that the band’s sound is purely retro, it isn’t. This the eighties sound updated, sounding modern and retro at the same time. Think Def Leppard meets The Midnight, 80’s AOR meets Synthwave. The album is called ”No Way Out” (RRRR) and my favourite songs are ”Hangin On To Seventeen”, ”Young Gun” and ”Anytime”. 

STAN BUSH is one of my favourite artists and he has been a reliable one, always coming up with solid albums one after another. ”Born For Battle” (RRRr) is his latest one, and it’s a solid one for sure, but is it a bit too safe and predictable? Apparently all of these songs are new, but looking at the song titles (”No Surrender”, ”Stand Or Fall”, ”Heart Of A Lion” etc) I thought some of them had to be remakes! After having heard them, I’m still not sure… there are so many familiar traces of old Stan Bush songs here, not to mention other 80’s soundtrack rock songs. Still, I can’t really complain because I pretty much like all of these songs. They are mostly inspirational songs about winning, not giving up and that sort of things, with a couple of love songs thrown in. Stan himself still sings great, the years haven’t really affected his voice too much. Top picks: ”The Sound Of Victory” and ”Prisoner Of The Heart”. 

CROWNE: "Wonderland"

Frontiers 2025
Rating: RRRRr
Review by Kimmo Toivonen

The all-star band Crowne have established themselves as something more than just a one-off project put together by the record label. ”Wonderland” is their third album, which is quite an accomplishment, considering that the members are pretty busy with their other projects too. Especially main writer and keyboard player Jona Tee (H.E.A.T. &. producing) and vocalist Alexander Strandell (Art Nation, Nitrate, Lionville) have pretty hectic schedules I assume. The other guys (John Leven of Europe, Love Magnusson of Dynazty and Kicken Lundqvist) aren’t exactly resting on their laurels either.

The album gets a flying start with the irresistible title track and ”Waiting For You”, two songs that went straight to my ”Highlights of 2025” playlist. These could be described as ”Power AOR”, somewhere between Power Metal and AOR. An extra mention must go to Strandell and his soaring vocals, his performance on these tracks and the whole album is something quite exceptional! 

 ”Eye Of The Oracle” is a bit moodier, but an excellent track too, as is ”Heaven Tonight”, which continues the Power AOR theme, like Battle Beast mixed with H.E.A.T. After hearing these four first tracks, I was thinking that we might have an album worth of the full set of R’s here!

It seems that the band used their biggest bombs right away, as the rest of the album can’t really match the brilliance of the first four tracks. Don’t get me wrong, none of the remaining tracks are bad, they could have been a foundation of killer album, but now we’ll have to settle for a very good one. But let’s take a closer look at them.

”Warlords Of The North” has been co-written by Saxon vocalist Biff Byford, and it’s heavy track, a slow-tempo stomper with a bit Sabbathesque vibe. ”Timing Is Right” gives me a strange sense of deja vu, as its’ chorus sounds somewhat like a faster version of ”Heaven Tonight”.

”Goodbye” is a decent ballad that reminds of Europe. ”Love Thy Enemy” was initially one of the weaker tracks but I’ve grown to like it. It’s another moody track and features some nice piano parts by Jona Tee.  ”Legacy” might be the closest thing to filler here, an okay track but it doesn’t really leave a lasting trace.   ”Hearts Collide” is the only track solely written by Alexander Strandell, and it’s the highlight of the album’s second half. The closing number ”The Fall” has its’s moments, a quite clever chorus but I haven’t really warmed up to it.

The band’s sound is a rather fascinating combination of the elements brought in by the members. It’s not exactly like H.E.A.T. or Art Nation or something in between. There’s a metallic overtone in it, yet some of the hooks could work as pop songs, if produced differently. I threw in the ”Power AOR” term earlier, which I think is somehow accurate. Go ahead and listen yourself.