NAKED – End Game (CD)

Swedish melodic rockers Naked released their quite anonymous debut in 2007. It was good, but didn’t hit me that hard. The line-up has now been reinforced by Alien guitarist Tony Borg and former Madison bassist Conny Payne. The band also features singer Peter Sundvall, keyboardist Mats Hedén, rhythm guitarist Mats Stattin and drummer Mikael Wikman. I’m not sure what has happened since the debut (which I obviously need to re-visit), but this feels like a completely transformed band. The opening track didn’t fully convince me at a first listen, as it felt a bit too traditional, but then something happened. First of all, I found little twists and turns I didn’t expect, then it got stuck in my head like a bee to flypaper. Then I discovered something else. This is actually a true AOR album, in the sense – Album Oriented Rock. This album needs to be consumed in its entirety. Every song is like a piece of the puzzle like the classic albums by Boston, Balance, LeRoux etc. Furthermore, killer tracks like Blood Of My Blood, Still In Love With You and Setting Sails may as well have been recorded by one of those late great classic pomp bands of the late 70s/early 80s classic and where Peter Sundvall reminds me quite a lot of Fergie Fredriksen during his time with one of my favorite pomp bands of that era – Trillion. Simply love his voice! The crisp and clear, but still full, production also bears resemblance with that era, but of course slightly upgraded. This album was a really nice surprise! One of the best pomp/AOR albums of 2015!

Janne Stark

Country: Sweden

Label: Escape

Year: 2015

FEINTS - Feints (digital release)

Boston rocks! Yepp, Feints proves it! This Bostonian four-piece makes their debut with a digital release, which should be out on CD and even vinyl! The album kicks off with the rockin’ “Los Angeles At Last”. Powerhouse singer Amy Douglas who sounds like a mix between Mother’s Finest’s Baby Jean and Tina Turner on steroids fronts the band. She is definitely the perfect vocal match for the bands straight-in-your-face power rock. “Saturday” continues in a slightly Cheap Trick:ish vein. The band has its feet firmly rooted in the seventies, which is a quality mark in my book. “Invalid” continues in the Tricky vein, but Amy’s voice really takes the band to another place. Man, those vocal cords have got to be leather coated! The songs are really catchy and this should appeal to fans of anything from classic bands like Earthquake, The Faces or Cheap Trick to fans of The Hellacopters and the rocking side of Mother’s Finest or even vintage Pat Benatar. There are also more southern sounding stomping rock songs such as “Hudson Valley Stomp”, which reminded me a bit of The Black Crowes. “Death Rattle” takes it in a totally different direction, with its almost metal-punkish vibe. Cool track indeed, with Amy turning her lungs inside out! The band, featuring guitarist David Baron, bass player Rob Phillips and drummer Tim Marten are tight as a rat’s ass, and these boys really keep this train moving! Right after the death rattle the band lays down a beautiful ballad called “Little America” with Amy also showing her piano skills and David is throwing in some countryish guitar licks. Really nice.!The release also offers a free bonus track, which happens to be an outstanding cover of Thin Lizzy’s Fighting My Way Back. This is a highly enjoyable, unsitstillable, rockin’ tildawnable picke of digital media. Highly recommended!

Janne Stark

Year: 2015

Country: USA

Label: self-released

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ8zkUo6tYE
Bancamp: https://feints1.bandcamp.com/album/feints

FAITHEALER - Welcome To The Edge Of The World (CD)

Ivan Gunn, former keyboard player of UK’s melodic semi prog unit Balance Of Power and melodic band Pride, is back in action with his new melodic union – Faithealer. This time he is co-operating with phenomenal singer Jason Marks (Forever, S.I.N). There’s definitely a touch of Balance of Power, but with much better sounding drums and a more AOR-oriented vibe. There’s really an array of strong choruses on this album, starting with opener “Who Will Stop The Rain” and continuing with the outstanding “Stronger”, which actually reminded me a bit of long lost AOR-gods Touch. The layers of voices in the chorus must have taken up half the ProTools tracks. Fat and juicy indeed. Despite Ivan foremost being a keyboard player, there’s still lots of guitars, solos provided by the excellent melodic shredder Chris Green, formerly of Pride and now found in the outstanding heavies Furyon. “Welcome To The Edge Of The World” is actually a bit more than your ordinary AOR-album, I’d actually place it in the rarely used category “pomp”, together with classic bands like Boston, Styx and the aforementioned band Touch, where there’s a bit more than just a catchy chorus and simple chorus patterns. There’s definitely a twist to it without being progressive, great arrangements which builds the songs up nicely and brings the listener through different phases and moods. This is definitely an album to check out – a great piece of melodic rock!
Janne Stark
Label: private
Country: UK
Year: 2010
Link: http://www.myspace.com/faithealerocks