Here is an offering of melodic hard rock brought forth from this Swedish quintet, and not bad for a debut. Complete with pop songwriting, virtuosic guitar work, neo-progressive soloing coming form both the keyboards and guitars, and straight to the point melodies and hooks to create a hard rock record that goes beyond the standard
AOR aesthetics.
Although
Last Autumn's Dream has it's progressive moments when it comes to the layout of the solos and keyboard soundscapes, the musicianship is more straight forward, with the songs being more pop oriented, leaving less room for jamming and overly syncopated rhythmic patterns, being more down to earth. The guitar work stands out as being more diversifies, with axeman Andy Malecek (straight out of Fair Warning, bringing all his chops with him) playing in style ranging from the glistening chorus laden arpeggios to riff driven crunch, a perfect compliment to singer/songwriter Mikael Erlandsson's vocal styling, which is reminiscent to Dennis DeYoung (Styx) and
Neal Morse (former Spock's Beard), obviously, anybody who is familiar with Erlandsson's past solo work need not be disappointed.
The songs on this record range from rockers; "Doin' Time," "Break the Chains of Destiny" and "I Never Let You Go;" to ballads; "Guardian Angel" and "The One;" to even cuts that have a moody dark vibe: "Talk to Me," as well as emotional cuts like "Going Home," making for a great mix that obviously lacks redundancy, but being consistent with musical grandeur with every cut.
A perfect release for fans of Harem Scarem, Enchant, Drive She Said,
Neal Morse, not to mention some of Spock's Beard's more pop oriented material. Again here is a release that brings forth the melodic hard rock that, like many of us have said before, should belong on rock radio.
Written by
Hashman Friday, January 9, 2004
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