Rock Blog #55: Malmö Melodic pre-festival special

 We’re a few days away from Malmö Melodic festival, and I’ve been listening to the artists performing there almost exclusively for the last few days. I put together a playlist of the most recent material from each artist, and as it happens, many of them have released new albums recently. I’ve already reviewed some of them, but let’s go through a few more.

FIGHTER V’s third album ”Deja Vu” didn’t make that much of an impression after the first spin, I thought it was okay but nowhere near as good as their previous one. But I stand corrected, it’s a good one. I might still prefer its’ predecessor ”Heart Of The Young”, but ”Deja Vu” has plenty to enjoy. The songs aren’t carved from the same wood, there’s a lot of variety.  There’s the groovy, almost funky title track, then a couple of synth-driven tracks (”Victory” and ”Break Those Limits”) which remind me a bit of Beast In Black and that sort of stuff and then there’s the more AOR-type of stuff like ”For All This Time” and ”Hold The Time” with its’ infectious ”Runaway” keyboards. I also realized that vocalist Emmo Acar could do a fine job in an Eddie Money tribute act! ”Walk On Water” from the Moneyman’s repertoire - there’s an idea for a cover song for Fighter V. You’re welcome! This album gets a RRRR rating. I’m really looking forward to seeing the band live!

ALIEN released their latest album ”When Yesterday Comes Around” (RRRr) last year, but I never reviewed it. I guess it’s because I never really warmed to it. The Alien discography hasn’t been the most consistent one, they started with an AOR classic but then got lost in the shuffle of vocalists and whatnot. I did like the original line-up’s ”comeback album” ”Eternity”, a ”true return to form”, to use an old cliche. ”WYCA” does have its’ moments, ”In The End We Fall” and ”If Love Is War” being the highlights. The rest of it is absolutely enjoyable, not bad by any means but somehow not that memorable. There are bluesy moments and maybe a bit of 70’s classic vibe in the songs. Jim Jidhed’s vocals are outstanding as always, just check out the Perryisms of ”I Remember”… As for the Malmö Melodic setlist, many songs from the debut, the first two songs from this and a few from ”Eternity”, please!

HARDLINE’s ”Shout” (RRRr) has gotten some rave reviews, and it does sound very powerful, I’ll give them that. I have a feeling that some these songs might work just fine in a live setting. The title track is bound to be a crowd favourite and I definitely want to hear it next weekend. ”Mother Love” is another, one of the more AOR’ish songs of the album. Then again, there are a couple of songs that sound suspiciously similar to classic tracks from the band’s legendary debut, and I’d rather hear the originals than them. The Scorpions cover ”When You Came Into My Life” is well executed, but I never really considered it as one of their best, so… Maybe it’ll be in the setlist, and it might blow me away, who knows.

SARAYASIGN. ”Shadows Of The Dying Light” (RRR) is their third album, and I really should like them more. They fall into the same category as Perfect Plan, Arctic Rain and a few others, but are arguably fairly heavier. I keep thinking of Allen-Lande, Masterplan or Magnus Karlsson’s Free Fall. All bands I like, but somehow I haven’t gotten into this band yet. Maybe they’ll convert me from the stage, we’ll see. From this album, my pick is the opening track ”Worlds Apart (Shadowlands)”. 

CAUGHT IN ACTION made it to my ”Top 30 of 2025” with their ”Out Of The Cold” album (RRRR). To the last position, but to the list anyway. I don’t recall reviewing the album, so let’s have a listen… Oh yeah, solid stuff, very typical Swedish AOR sound, but good songs!  ”Nathalie” and ”Shot In The Dark” get my vote as the best tracks of the album. 

BOULEVARD’s latest one ”Talk Without Speaking” (RRR) has flown below my radar. It was released in early May, and I admit that I haven’t given it that much airtime. I liked their previous album and I think there’s a place and time for this album, but it’s not going to be a favourite of mine. It’s polished, meticulously produced and somehow poetic, but maybe it goes a bit too much into the style of Sting, Peter Gabriel and that kind of ”thinking man’s adult rock”. There’s a couple of gems here that I hope they have in the setlist though: ”Heaven Help Me” (massive chorus) and ”Start All Over Again”. The band does have a tendency to great magical moments live, so I’ll be looking forward to their set anyway. 

Apart from these, I've already reviewed the latest albums from Tyketto, Eclipse, Midnite City, Emotional Fire, Brother Firetribe, Art Nation and Wig Wam elsewhere. 

I'm looking forward to checking out each one of the bands in the festival line-up, even the ones that I'm not too familiar with, not that there are too many of those. It will be a fantastic weekend!