COLORSTONE - Steam (CD digi)

Hailing from Malmö, southern Sweden, this bunch released their excellent debut in 2011. The members are no beginners, which shows on the musical and vocal delivery. Singer Johan Dahlström once fronted Silver Mountain, while guitarist Fredrik Bergengren was in melodic band Time Gallery. On the debut I compared the band to colleagues Angeline, with their cool blend of pure AOR and chunky fat riffs with a seventies touch. Steam opens up at full steam with two outstanding chunky, funky, groovy and riff oriented rockers with Dahlström delivering top-notch vocals. They loose a bit of steam in the next number, but it picks up in power and speed in Breakdown again. Although some of the songs can seem a bit slick, what sets Colorstone apart a bit from your general AOR band is that Fredrik experiments a bit with sounds and effects you’d be more likely to hear on a Robin Trower album. I do wish they would add a bit more balls to some of the songs, such as Fighting For A Cause, which comes across as a bit “safe”. Whereas in the killer track Don’t Just Dream About It, they go all in. There may not be any immediate hits or classic killer tracks, but it’s an even album without any skip-tracks. Highly enjoyable and all in all a great follow-up!

Janne Stark

Label: private release

Year: 2014

Country: Sweden

Link: www.colorstone.se

COLORSTONE - Into The Garden (CD)

With their roots in westcoast/AOR-oriented Malmö band Time Gallery, Colorstone attacks from a totally different angle. The band’s self-financed debut kicks off with heavy funk-oriented rocker Into The Garden Of Destruction which reminds me a bit of Dan Reed Network, but with a heavier bottom edge. When I come to think of it, it’s actually more similar to Stevie Salas Colorcode, but with vocals more similar to Dan Reed. Well, whatever, this is right up my alley! Killer song indeed! Second track, Silverspoon, is less funky but more driven and rocks out really well. Another killer track! Intoxicated keeps it up, and starts of with some bluesy harmonica. This one is actually more bluesy with cool neck pick-up Strat work going on. Things then mellow out a bit in Show Me The Way and Flowing, before the heavy rocker One Of A Kind pick it up again. I won’t go into all the tracks, just say that there are 17 tracks on the album. For me personally, I would remove 4-5 tracks I feel don’t really belong there. The Secret, for instance, feels like somewhat of a filler. The same goes for popster Solitude Waiting, which feels a bit misplaced but will probably appeal to fans of Time Gallery. Reducing it to 12 strong tracks would have made this one of the best Swedish releases of 2011. Well, it still is, of course, but that’s just me. However tracks like Silverspoon and Tonight's The Night are the type off stuff that gives me a musical hard-on! also, just realized I need to point out a few things. The band is so solid it's scary, plus I'm totally in love with guitarist Fredrik Bergengren's bluesy, funky and Hendrixy style of playing and singer Johan Dahlström's equally bluesy vocals. Killer stuff!

Janne Stark
Country: Sweden
Label: Self-release
Year: 2011