AOR with balls.
It’s those Swedes again! Miss Behaviour returns with their third album ‘Double Agent’, the follow up to 2011’s highly acclaimed opus ‘Last Woman Standing’. If you liked the last album then you are going to love the new one. The production, which is colossal, was again handled by Daniel Gese with co-production from the band themselves. The album was recorded, mixed and mastered in Studio Lärkbacken and Realtime Recording Studios, Norrköping, Sweden.
MB have, once again, taken the essence of eighties Melodic Rock and brought it perfectly into the twenty-first century. Here is a band on top of their game and whom who are not afraid to give the keyboards equal billing with the guitars. There are twelve fantastic melodic songs on offer, all of which are of the highest quality, with two or three of them simply “knockin’ it out of the park”.
‘On With The Show’ kicks of the album and has all the hallmarks of classic eighties Melodic Rock; big guitars, big keyboards and huge vocals with a memorable chorus. The rest of the album continues very much in the same vein and what sets it apart from a lot of releases is its remarkable consistency throughout. The title track ‘Double Agent’ is the kind of song that most wish Bon Jovi could still write and record.
The rhythm section of bassist Nicky Bloom and drummer Magnum Jacobs keep it solid throughout, however it’s vocalist Sebastian Roos, guitarist Erik Heikne and keyboard player Henrik Sproge who really take the spotlight, in equal measures, right through the whole album.
There is a nice variation of pace throughout, from the smooth ballad ‘Cold Response’, to the mid-tempo ‘Magical Feeling’, to the sing-along anthem ‘Corporation Arms’, to the ultra-catchy ‘Love Reflector’. Straight ahead AOR songs ‘Don’t Let It End’ and ‘Midnight Runner’ are both very reminiscent of fellow Swedes Treat. There are three tracks, however, that really raise the bar on this album; ‘Edge Of The World’ is heavy without ever compromising the melody, the near eight minute, keyboard heaven of ‘The Cause Of Liberty’ (one of the songs of the year) and ‘Dancing With Danger’ which is an object lesson, to any aspiring band, on how to write the perfect Melodic Rock song. The beautiful ballad ‘Silver Rain’ brings the album to a conclusion and I can guarantee that you will be hitting the repeat button over and over again.
I have only had this album for a week so I will need to live with it a bit longer but, initial impressions are, that it could rank up there with Treat’s ‘Coup De Grace’ as one of the best Melodic Rock Albums of recent years; AOR with balls!
Mark Donnelly
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