Treat - Coup De Grace (Frontiers)
The short opener, 'Prelude', uses the tried and tested "soundbites from the archives" set against a dramatic musical backdrop.
It's a quick change parade of significant events in the violent history of the twentieth century, and it works a, er, treat. It's always good to hear JFK again, and it sure makes a change from lyrics in short trousers. So many bands who are selling a message sound like they're still at school.
A deft gear shift and we're into the immensely powerful 'The War Is Over'. It typifies the album - a tight knit dynamic, a blazing tune and a heartstopping hook.
Would that all melodic rock tracks were this good.
Guitarist Anders Wickstrom is in incendiary form, riffs burn right off the page, strident solos sear and scorch, with vocalist Robert Ernlund radiating heat and light on charismatic tracks like 'All In' and 'Paper Tiger'.
The album peaks with the towering 'Roar', a darkly hued, passionate owner of an irresistible hook, and the gentler 'A Life To Die For', a fabulous ballad, owing as much to David Foster as to contemporary Euro AOR conventions.
With 'CDG', Wikstrom has crafted a melodic rock album of quite majestic proportions.
It's not a 10/10 album, at least not yet. And that's the way it should be.
Arguably, that maximum mark is a rating that should only be awarded retrospectively, when the recording has clearly stood the test of time.
That caveat aside, few melodic rock albums will better 'Coup De Grace' this year.
Houston - Hold On (Rocket Songs)
No problem here, Houston.
This single bodes well for a great AOR/Westcoast album in the making.
Clearly being groomed for stardom, Swedish duo Freddie Allen and Hank Erix are joined on the full album, due May, by genre luminaries, Tommy Denander, Thomas Vikstrom and Mats Olausson. The duo's debut is being produced by Ricky (Radioactive/Prisoner) Delin. So there's a clear pedigree there.
This trailer does exactly what it says on the sleeve, it whets our appetite. 'Hold On' is an AOR lightning strike, trapped in the amber of eighties' FM Radio. It's what good soft rock is all about, losing the love, the dream. The sound of summer and a life just out of reach.
Roll on the full album.
John Taglieri - Lives (Leapdog Music)
Taglieri's innovative project - the release of a series of 6 track EPs and corresponding graphic novellas, each track representing a chapter in each book - is bold and ambitious.
Which is all very well, but to cynics like me, it smacks of the Emperor's New Clothes.
'Lives' is the first EP.
But I tell you what: Project aside, this stands up all on its own. It's full of fabulous songwriting and tunes that stick like araldite. Taglieri captures the experiences of his two protagonists, real or imagined, in a river of melody and sharply observational lyrics, full of raw sentimentality and real emotions.
It's one part Mellencamp, one part Burtnik and a whole lotta Taglieri.
The standout tracks, 'Breathe' and 'Farewell' each tell their own story, but Taglieri never lets weighty issues get in the way of a superb melody or an uplifting chorus.
Outstanding.
HiFi Superstar - S/T (NDT Records)
And there was me thinking that Cheap Trick, Jellyfish and Roger Manning Jr had the whole Powerpop scene sewn up.
Yes, I know that The Grays and The Wondermints have popped up now and again, but Hi Fi Superstar really have got something to offer.
This second album is a bit patchy, but a handful of sublime, if jagged edged, powerpop songs quickly emerge.
'Lovely Day' is White Album, Fab Four pop music. Sugar coated pop with a sombre shaded centre, contrasting with the 'Trick-esque 'Superstar', a track with a cool, hip, self assured swagger, staying just on the edgy side of mainstream pop.
'Over Our Head' and 'Without Love' once again show the power of unashamed sentiment and unadorned melody, charismatic songs with a distinct adult resonance.
It doesn't always work here. Hifi Superstar aim high, and that means you don't always hit the mark.
But the misses are always near, and when they hit the bullseye, they do so in an explosion of primary colours, seeded with the occasional streak of discord, mixed in with grit, melody and an insouciant cool.
Good album.
April Wine - Animal Grace / Walking Through Fire (BGO Records)
There are great melodic rock songwriters and there are people like Myles Goodwyn, who's in a league of his own.
This is a double disc reissue of his band, April Wine's last two releases - dating from 1984 and 1985 respectively - before they broke up, through they later reformed (1992).
'Animal Grace' saw the band coming down off the wave that they crested so successfully with previous releases 'Harder, Faster' and 'First Glance', albums that broke them outside their native Canada.
That downward curve was simply the result of a change in fashion rather than a lack of quality from a much overlooked and often underrated band.
Produced by Goodwyn and Mike Stone, 'Animal Grace' is a poprock swirl of sinuous melodies and inviting hooks. Goodwyn's songs are filled to the brim with simple, articulate lyrics and perhaps more importantly, with urgent, energetic rock music.
The first of the two album standouts, 'Without Your Love', shows a brooding, blossoming sophistication emerging, with piano and guitar intertwining romantically over brittle synth beats. The second, the dramatic 'Gimme That Thing Called Love' could easily be claimed as the template for Def Leppard's 'Pyromania' - a dramatic convergence of tough guitars and tender words.
'Walking Through Fire', (a popular concept in the lexicon of melodic rock bands) may well smack of contractual obligation but only insofar as 4 of the 10 songs come from outside the band. And let's face it, Jeff Cannata, Eddie Schwarz, Kimberly Rew and Jim Vallance are no slouches when it comes to writing great rock songs. (Allow me a tangential moment : Paul Carrack's "Don't Shed A Tear" is one of my all time favourite pop/rock hit songs, written by Eddie Schwarz).
Produced by Lance (Bon Jovi/Danger Danger) Quinn, it has a bigger, dumber arena rock sound than 'Animal Grace', and is crammed with would-be melodic rock anthems like 'Rock Myself To Sleep' and 'Wanted Dead Or Alive'.
Unsurprisingly then, the album depends on the subtleties of Goodwyn's own songs for redemption.
The balladic 'Love Has Remembered Me' is a good melodic rock song worked up from a simple tune and a romantic mood. 'Anejo' has an indisputable groove and a roaringly empowered chorus, bolstered by sturdy backing vocals. These two songs alone make this a worthwhile purchase.
In fairness, 'Walking.' is more of a collector's piece now, but it's a valuable chapter in a considerable volume of work just the same.
And more recent releases like 'Back to The Mansion' (2001) and 'Roughly Speaking' (2006) show that when you've got it you never lose it.
Sonata Arctica - Takatalvi (Spinefarm/Universal)
Actually a combination of previously Japan only releases, 'Takatalvi' and 'Orientation'. A great entry point for novices and a welcome release for European fans who've been agitating for this collection of rarities and cover versions to be made available locally.
It zig zags back and forth between the musical developments that took place through their career, as collections of this nature usually do. Doesn't make it a bad album of course. On the contrary, it's an intriguing listen.
The 11 tracks include the original, neo-classical, hi energy version of 'San Sebastian', a song which later appeared on the band's 2001 album 'Silence'.
There's a Metallica cover, 'Fade To Black', a song of which Tony Kakko submits : "I love the melody, lyrics and general mood of the song".
Iron Maiden's 'Die With Your Boots On' is an amazingly good fit and a rocked up version of The Scorpions' 'Still Loving You' is a genuine album highlight.
For me, absolute standouts are firstly, 'The Gun', probably because it cuts against the grain of what we now know as the traditional SA sound. It's a heavy rock track with an unstoppable, bouncing bomb momentum, skewering every hard rock convention with unerring accuracy as it progresses. And secondly, 'I Want Out'. Yes, a speeded up version of the old Helloween fan favourite, with a fresh coat of Sonata Arctica fills and frills paint to make it seem like new.
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