Surpassed my choices for best album of the year.
I must admit, Houston’s debut release was in my opinion by far the best album released last year and is never out of my car stereo even now almost 12 months on. So I was overjoyed to receive this in the post, the second release on the Rocket Songs label, and as with Houston, produced by the legendary Ricky Delin. Yes, I was expecting Houston Mk 2 as I slipped it into the player. Opener ‘Breathe Out’ starts with haunting acoustic guitar then revs up into a breath-taking piece of melodic pomp, a sure fire hit single if rock could ever make it back onto mainstream radio. Before I’ve had chance to recover, ‘I Love the Way You Are’ cranks up, again a masterfully crafted tune. But hold on, there’s overtones of pop/punk here … early Green Day springs to mind. And then we hit ‘Wild One’, a balls-out rocker with a hook that leaves a taste of the Tigertailz classic ‘Love Bomb Baby’ in the mouth, which is no bad thing!
The band comprises of Erik Holmberg, whose vocals are emotional and packed with energy, Fredrik Askenstrom on guitar, who switches from choppy punk riffs to flowing, soaring guitar solos with ease, and the rhythm section of Christoffer Ahl on drums and Mattias Ohlsén on bass, both immensely talented individuals who give the band a tight back beat. The pace of the album is frantic and never seems to let up, with one upbeat catchy tune followed again by another of equal class. The pace drops just a tad for ‘Oh Sarah’, the only ballad on the album, which along with the following track ‘One Night Stand’, reminds me very much of early Rick Springfield. Next up is ‘I Wanted You’ which is my personal favourite track off the album. Again it’s dial up to 11 all-out rocking with the catchiest hook I’ve heard this year with a west coast American vibe to it. The whole album really is a joy to listen to with Ricky Delin’s production again being exquisite but in a totally different direction to that of the Houston album. There’s no reams of multi-layered backing vocals here, no in your face keyboards – it’s all about guitars.
I had earmarked Toby Hitchcock or Work Of Art's releases to probably be my album of the year, but this has surpassed them.
Andy Langwieser
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