There’s an endless supply of Melodic Rock bands these days and a good number of them of course are located on the Frontiers label. The hardest thing sometimes is distinguishing between those that do a nice job though rarely shine and those that offer a little more. At the end of the day it just comes down to the quality of the songs.
To take a step back for a second: “Seventh Crystal is a stunning new rock band from the fertile Swedish music scene that was put together by singer Kristian Fyhr (Perpetual Etude). Initially, Kristian wanted to pursue a solo project. but when the songs started to take form, he realized he wanted to involve more musicians. So, he moved to vocals only and brought in Johan Älvsång (Pinstripe Conspiracy, Lamashtu) on keyboards/piano and Olof Gadd (Osukaru) on bass as the first key pieces, and then recruited Anton Roos on drums and Emil Dornerus on guitar to complete the line-up. After the release of their debut album, Gustav Linde joined the band as their second guitarist.”
‘Wonderland’ that opens the album of the same name, is nice enough, nice and slick, cool production, great vocals and sports some wonderful guitar, bass and drums. But for me it’s the ‘blue sky’ uplifting feel of second track ‘Higher Ground’ and particularly it’s keys that really grabbed my attention. There’s a real 80’s AOR feel that transcends the Hard Rock sheen and makes you think of luminaries like Frey and Winwood. ‘Hollow’ that follows is a nice mid-tempo rocker with some great harmonies and great guitar.
Seventh Crystal’s music is described in the press release as “arena rock with melodic rock influences” but to me there’s more of an AOR angle here, it’s not as aligned with “One Desire, H.E.A.T., and other bands who bring a huge sense of melody to modern rock” as it’s touted in the presser and even though they do venture into the lighter side of that territory with the wonderful ‘Million Times’ for example I still get that sweeter edge.
‘My Own Way’ adds a little upbeat magic, and ‘Imperfection’ some piano and emotion before the wonderful ballad ‘ In The Mirror’ hits a real high. It’s one of my favourites and was from first listen. ‘Next Generation’ has a wonderful tempo and great melody that makes another winner, whilst ‘Someday’ adds a little grit and ups the guitars and lets the melody soar before closer ‘Rodeo’ takes us out with another of the best – a really great vocal performance tops off a huge high energy mid-tempo rocker.
With songs like these Seventh Crystal is starting to shine.
7.5 / 10
“Wonderland” Tracklisting: Wonderland | Higher Ground | Hollow | Million Times | My Own Way | Imperfection | In The Mirror | Next Generation | Someday | Rodeo
Line-Up:
Kristian Fyhr – Lead Vocals
Johan Älvsång – Keyboard/Backing Vocals
Emil Dornerus – Guitar/Backing Vocals
Gustav Linde – Guitar
Olof Gadd – Bass/Backing Vocals
Anton Roos – Drums/Percussion
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