Artist:  Bad Habit
   Title: Above And Beyond
   Label: AOR Heaven

Well it’s been some four years coming but it’s finally here the eighth and one of the bands best, Bad Habit’s new album ‘Above And Beyond’. 

Once again Bax Fehling, Hal Marabel, Sven Cirnski, Patrik Sodergren and Jaime Salazar have returned to the fold with another powerful Melodic Rock album and give their fans what they have been waiting for, for the past four years. 

Jonas Reingold returns to produce the album and again he's brought out the best in the bands sound.  Most of all Fehling’s vocals seem more dominant on this release, with the guitars sounding crisp without being too polished.

The album opens up with ‘I Don’t Want You’ and instantly you realise what has been missing from the genre for the past few years.  This is pure Melodic Heaven and will get those feet moving from the first few magical chords.

The album continues to impress with ‘Just A Heartbeat Away’, again pure Melodic bliss from the band with Fehling giving his all on this one.  I don’t know why but his vocals seem far more impressive than they did on Hear-Say, whether it's down to production or just something he’s be eating, the sound on this track and throughout the album is quite impressive.

The band have always mixed some quite rockier moments with some more gentle ballads, but it’s the rockers that really standout on this new album as they continue with ‘Don’t Want To Say Goodbye’, a great chorus led by some wonderful guitar work.  This is one of the highlights of the album for me.

The first of those more gentile moments comes with ‘Let Me Be The One’.  This the sort of song that made the whole Melodic Rock genre so big in the 80’s, a power ballad by any other words but with more modern soundings.

Speaking of a more modern sound, the band step into the noughties with 'A Lot To Learn’.  This one is very now and that’s exactly what this genre needs,  a band willing to take that step forward out of the eighties while still remaining true to the cause.  Something that Harem Scarem were doing on their last two albums. 

It's back to the more rockier elements of the album with another favourite of mine the superb ‘I Believe’.  A great riff filled spectacle that is true to the bands "Adult Orientation" as any track on the album.

Then it's time for some more guitar wielding with the title track ‘Above And Beyond.  Again Fehling is just superb and with Marabel and Cirnski in equally spectacular form.  If it wasn’t for ‘I Believe’ this would be my track of the album.

For me the album could finish here and I would be satisfied, but thankfully the band have put together a fantastic thirteen tracks for your listening pleasure on this album and they're all crackers.  Starting off with ‘My Confession’, a great up tempo rocker true to form, then there’s the moving tones of ‘Let Me Tell You’ and the sublime ballad ‘Surrender’ that will melt even the hardest of hearts.

With thirteen tracks on an album you’d expect a few fillers but not with this album, the band have been gone for so long and are giving the fans a real treat with this thirteen song masterpiece.  They continue with ‘Calling Your Name’ another slice of modern Melodic Rock and ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’, before rounding off the album in style with ‘I Need Someone’, a real Bad Habit classic in the making and one that ends a great album.  Let's just hope we don’t have to wait another four years for the next installment!

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