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Artist: Elevener |
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In 2008
two names set about reconstructing the whole Scandinavian AOR scene with
one band and one album, they were Johan Bergquist and Andreas Broden,
their band Elevener and their album ‘When Kaleidoscopes Collide’. Back
then it was just these two but like a snowflake falling on a
mountainside things started to snowball, then in 2010 Boden had to leave
due to other commitments, but in stepped Magnus Lindqvist and a working
band started to take shape. The final pieces of the jigsaw were found
as Anton Roos took up the drums stool, Pierre Wensberg took up the
vacant mike stand and completing the line-up Robert Garnold on
bass. The latter
two being band mates in Heartbreak Radio so with the line-up complete it
was straight down to work. Even before the years end the guys had
enough new material to get together with renowned producer Martin
Kronlund to make 'Symmetry In Motion’. The
album is labelled AOR but I regard it as good melodic rock, AOR is seen
as a more gentle genre but this is Scandinavian AOR. This album has a
bit more bite about it and fits right between the AOR and Melodic Rock
genres nicely, so much so it would appeal to both sets of fans. I just
have to say that Wensberg is a star of the future this guy has a great
set of pipes about him from the off he makes his presence felt with the
opener ‘Just As I Thought’ there is a touch of the Joe Lynn Turner
about his vocals on this one, like I said before this is Scandinavian
AOR a real breath of fresh air to the whole AOR scene. Things continue
to impress on the more rockier side with ‘Hypnotized’ before
bringing the tempo down with ‘Written In Your Eyes’ and ‘Dare To
You’, while still not falling into that Kansas, Chicago, Toto bracket that
many regard as AOR bands. The
tempo is brought back up with another stirring rocker in ‘Never Would
I’ before bringing it back down again with the touching ballad ‘Heal Me’.
This is just a short rest bite as it’s back up to speed with ‘Cage
Of Broken Dreams’. One of
my favourite tracks off the album has to be ‘Tearing Me Down’, again
swaying more towards what I would class as Melodic Rock. A great guitar
and keyboard fuelled track with Wensberg showing that he has the
full package as he rocks this one out along with Lindqvist's excellent
guitar work. It's back
to the ballads once more with the heart-warming melodies of ‘For The
Times We Share’, with added orchestration to give even more atmosphere
to the haunting melodies. The
album closes in style with the Bergquist keyboard fuelled ‘You Got
What It Takes’ and the icing on the cake, the excellent rocker
‘Modern Times’, which caps off another great Elevener album and now
they are full fledged band, let's hope some tour dates are announced
because these tune deserve to be played in the live arena. Once again
Sweden shows how it should be done. |
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Tracklisting: 1.
Just As I Thought |
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