There’s such lush melodies and guitar-fed urgency to opener ‘Brutal Beautiful’ that you can’t help get sucked in. It’s a wonderful opener with passionate vocals and great driver, along with it’s mellower moments – it’s a huge song. But it’s far from over: the gentle keys that open ‘Inception’ are overtaken by the crushing guitars that counterbalance the wonderful Melodic drive. It is, in short the best of all openings to a record four years in the making, delayed by band disputes, Covid and vocalist Alexander Strandell’s involvement with recording two albums with Sweden’s ‘Crowne’ (The band that is made up of Alexander, as well as guitarist/keyboardist/producer Jona Tee (H.E.A.T.), bassist John Levén (Europe) and drummer Christian Lundqvist (The Poodles).
‘1001’ is a slower burn and whilst Crowne may have stolen the limelight for a while just three songs in you’re marveling at that continued chemistry between Strandell and guitarist Christoffer Borg, bassist Richard Svard, and drummer Alexander Lundgren. There’s plenty of that heavier Melodic Rock sound too – and tracks like ‘Fight Fire With Fire’ are breathtaking.
It’s all impeccably tracked too and the tracklisting takes that light and shade and weaves a complete album beautifully. ‘Echo’ with its lighter touch sounds wonderful leading into the more subdued almost Pop balladry of ‘Break Up’ and the incendiary ‘Light The Fire’ which along with that opener and ‘1001’ are probably my favorite hear. It’s a magical build up to the storm of that Blues-tinged stomp of a final track. I honestly can’t fault anything so far – it’s an absolute joy to listen to.
‘The Legend Reborn’ had a nice change of attitude and is probably the most AOR offering hear but still wears those wonderful guitars, it is so beautifully executed. The galloping ‘Somewhere I Know I Belong’ is also wonderfully uplifting. The effectiveness of the orchestration that opens ‘Superman’ also makes you wonder why it has been used so sparingly as it adds a nice touch. Like ‘Break Up’ there’s a certain Pop-nous to it to the extent that you can imagine it bothering radio in some more enlightened parts of the world!
The album you won’t want to end closes with ‘Powerless’ where it all comes together perfectly. It’s a slower number, and everything is on point from the underlying keys to the driving drums and bass to the soaring vocals of the chorus. But for me this album is a wonderful example of what you can do with guitars and a wonderful voice. Nothing is overdone, but every single emotion is rendered perfectly. The production here is also sublime.
Definitely a serious contender for one of my albums of any year! Welcome back to Melodic Rock with serious teeth and some seriously great vocals. Can anyone match this in 2023? This one takes you to another place.
9 / 10
Tracklist:
1. Brutal & Beautiful
2. Last Of The Burned
3. 1001
4. Fight Fire With Fire
5. Echo
6. Break Up
7. Light The Fire
8. The Legend Reborn
9. Somewhere I Know I Belong
10. Superman
11. Powerless