RockBlog #54: Keys, Black Swan, Tyketto, Eve, Chez Kane, Hokka

It's been a while since the last time, so here's a rather decent portion of words of wisdom, opinionated bickering or plain old nonsense from an old geezer about some new and new-ish albums from yours truly... you decide, the truth is out there. But yeah, I'm almost up to date when it comes to new releases of our genre... "almost" being a fairly vague description.

KEYS - the project of Mark Mangold (Touch, Drive She Said) and Jake E. (Amaranthe, Cyhra) has released their third album ”Infinity Parabellum” (RRR) this year. The idea of Keys was that Mangold creates all the music with keyboards, except for vocals of course. Alex Landenburg plays drums on some of the tracks.

I have heard the previous two albums and compared to them, this latest effort sounds better, especially when it comes to the drums. The overtly plastic and programmed sound of the earlier stuff is mostly gone. 

Songwise the material ranges from modern metal of ”Catapult” and ”Jannus” via the AOR of ”When The Night Calls” to the hazy seventies prog weirdness of ”Lost In Time”. Mangold and Jake E. are definitely not trying to play it safe. At times this is quite fascinating, but some of the material just goes over my head.

The supergroup BLACK SWAN’s third album ”Paralyzed” (RRRR) might just be their best one so far. Featuring Robin McAuley on vocals (McAuley Schenker Group, Grand Prix, Survivor), Reb Beach (Winger, Whitesnake), Jeff Pilson (Dokken, Foreigner) and Matt Starr (Ace Frehley, Mr. Big), this is more like a real band than one of the many Frontiers Records’ projects, as the members are writing the songs themselves and even taking care of the production duties. 

If you’ve enjoyed McAuley Schenker Group, Winger and Dokken albums, I’m pretty sure you’ll find a lot to enjoy  on this album as well. McAuley is one of those 80’s vocalists who can still deliver, his vocals are superb throughout the album. There are some subtle traces of the members’ past here and there, but nothing that screams ”old song rehashed”. It doesn’t get much better than the opening track ”When The Cold Wind Blows”, one of the best new hard rock songs I’ve heard lately, although ”Paralyzed”, ”Death Of Me” and ”If I Was King” and a couple of other are challenging it quite well. 

It’d be great to see this band live - they could potentially put together an amazing setlist, with the best of their own songs and some classic tracks from their previous bands. 

TYKETTO’s ”Don’t Come Easy” is a classic album in the genre, which would have made them superstars if it had been released a few years earlier instead of 1991. Still, they did reach a cult status, and after a few years’ break (1996-2004) they have been active in the scene again, although vocalist Danny Vaughn is the only original member these days.

”Closer To The Sun” (RRRr) is the band’s latest album, and it’s been hailed as ”a return to form”, ”the best thing since the debut” and so on, but I’m not that convinced. The band’s overall sound and especially Vaughn’s vocals are somehow instantly likeable and welcoming, but when it comes to the songs, I feel that some of them are fairly ordinary. There are moments of brilliance, such as ”Starts With A Feeling” and the ballad ”The Picture”, but then again, ”Donnowhuddidis”, ”Harleys & Indians” and a couple others leave me cold. It’ll be interesting to see whether these songs come to life when I hopefully get to hear some of them live in Malmö later this year.  

Then something a bit different… EVE is a Finnish solo artist, who’s been on a hiatus for years. His full name is Jarkko Eve, and in the eighties, he was the bass player in Dingo, a band that broke all the records during their short existence. Eve left the band soon after the release of their first album, and started a successful, if again fairly short-lived, solo career. I rate his first two albums highly, he had a sophisticated, international sound although he sang in Finnish. Big hooks, cool arrangements and charismatic vocals. 

Now, some 40 years later, Eve returns with a new album, and the description above is a valid as ever. With Finnish producer/songwriter guru Jimmy Westerlund (One Desire, Giant) adding his touches to the album, ”Viimeinen Mohikaani” (RRRRr) is easily one of the best albums of the year. Definitely worth checking out even though it’s sung in Finnish, the music is excellent! Lots of 80's rock and pop stylings, but with a modern touch. This is Finnish Adult Oriented Rock in 2026. 

CHEZ KANE continues her collaboration with Crazy Lixx’ Danny Rexon, who has written and produced her two previous albums. If you’re familiar with those, you can pick up this one knowing that the style hasn’t changed. These songs are tributes to the glory days of 80’s female rock artists - Vixen, Lita Ford, Lee Aaron. I might even add Samantha Fox to the list. The album is called ”Reckless” (shout out to Bryan Adams there!) and as the ”top shelf magazine”-type of artwork might suggest, the lyrics are full of passionate nights, tongues of love and other  steamy scenes. Chez hasn’t been too shy before, but she and Danny have really gone a bit more reckless with this one.

The Vixenesque title track opens the album and it’s one of my favourites: big hooks and a driving groove. Next pick would be ”Night Of Passion” ( Hey there, Mad Max!), which has a bit of a synth wave vibe and it also takes me back to some eighties’ soundtracks. The pulsating, throbbing keys of the mid-tempo banger ”Tongue Of Love” make it irrestistable, and it gets the the third slot on my favourites’ list. The fourth and final place goes to ”Bodyrock” ( Hello, Lee Aaron!), which again has that soundtrack feel - isn’t there a movie called ”Bodyrock” too? As for the rest of the songs, they’re all decent enough and have grown on me, but at this point ”RRRR”-rating will have to do. 

HOKKA is a new band founded by former Blind Channel singer Joel Hokka and Pauli Rantasalmi, ex-The Rasmus guitarist. Their debut ”Via Miseria IV” (RRRR) could be described as a tailor-made album for anyone into the dark, melancholic Finnish rock/metal sound of the last twenty years or so. You can hear The Rasmus, HIM, Blind Channel and others in these songs. The first single was ”In The Darkness”, and it’s very much in the vein of The Rasmus at their very best - the hook is immense, we’re talking about a Desmond Child-sized chorus! The Rasmus-comparison pops up in some other songs as well. ”Heart Said No”, ”Angels Fall” and a couple of others have a strong HIM influence, while the bouncy ”Bon Apetit” takes a left turn to the direction of Muse. Anyway, big hooks galore and apart from the choruses, the band has really paid attention to bridges too - check out the ultra-melodic bridge of ”Blackbird” for example.