One of the unwritten rules for melodic rock bands in Japan is that the opening track on your album should be an instrumental. It's not mandatory, but you'd be wise to comply.
Not just any old instrumental you understand, but one with an epic sweep and ideally, a strong sense of the classical.
We'll come back to this subject in a moment.
Meantime, let's remind ourselves that LAD is Mikael Erlandsson, once a high profile solo artist, Andy (Fair Warning) Malacek, Jamie (Treat, Talisman) Borger and Marcel (Rising Force, Talisman) Jacob. A supergroup of sorts, certainly one that's used its collective consciousness to create a hugely popular sound in Japan, leading to several tours and an insatiable appetite for new product.
All four have found success in previous lives, but nothing quite as sustained as the LAD phenomenon.
This is the band's sixth album in as many years.
Erlandsson is the band's prime mover, and architect of the quartet's catchy mix of pop and rock. . . he's written or co-written the majority of the songs here and has also produced.
That opener / intro,
'Welcome' was written and performed by Erlandsson, showing filmic influences ranging from Copeland's 'Fanfare For The Common man' to Ravel's 'Bolero', and naturally, it's liberally sprinkled with rock guitars, just to remind us why we're here.
A statement of course. It's telling us that these guys are heavy music dudes, not to be taken lightly.
But the classical references end there. The next 13 tracks are filled to the brim with exquisitely formed poprock, with towering choruses and pulse quickening hooks.
Well no, not quite. There are a few filler tracks here, padding out the running time, iron pyrites among the gold, but when the good stuff is as stunning as it gets on
'Dreamcatcher', you can forgive them their trespasses.
In fact, there are so many standout tracks it's hard to separate them.
The soaring, tuneful
'Silent Dream', the fleet of foot, feelgood '
Frozen Flower' and the busy, noisy yet charmingly melodic,
'Alarm' are all contenders.
Elsewhere, a sweet, slick, streamlined cover of New England's '
Hello, Hello, Hello', the powerful, pacey '
Your Kind Of Loving' and the wonderfully uplifting '
One By One' all give them a run for their money.
Listening to '
Dreamcatcher' may not be a life changing experience, but it will leave you with a smile on your face. How many albums do that?
Written by
Brian Tuesday, December 23, 2008
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