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Artist: Work Of Art |
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2010
turned out to be a great year for the whole Melodic/Hard Rock, with bands
both old and new releasing some great albums, but this year the scene the
whole scene has gone nuclear, with each month producing killer albums,
again both from established artists and new bands, so much so that this month I’ve
found it hard to keep up with the demand. One
such band that have come up with the goods big style are Swedes Work
of Art, who with the release of their second album 'In Progress', are
currently the hot topic on the lips of the melodic rock crowd. If
you thought their debut ‘Art Work’ was stunning, then you’re going to be
blown away with this new album, as the band bring their own spin on the
West Coast AOR sound. The
album is just melodic gold from start to finish as things get underway
with ‘The Rain’, from the off the class that was first brought to
light with their debut ‘Art Work’, is carried on with this new
release, as Lars Säfsund vocals shine though, along with the excellent
musicianship of Robert Sall’s guitars and keyboards and Herman
Furin’s superb drums. The
album continues to impress with the excellent ‘Nature Of The Game’,
where the Swedes have put a modern spin on the Classic West Coast sound
and brought it kicking and screaming into the now. This
superb release really showcases everything that is a great about this genre.
Great tunes, great
vocals and musicianship, that are second to none. This is brought to
the forefront with the superb ‘Once Again’, featuring a little gentler vibe on
this song, very much in the classic TOTO vein, but featuring that modern
production that brings the sound bang up to date. The
tempo is picked up once more with the keyboard infused ‘Never Love
Again’, before the romping majesty of the rockin’ 'Eye Of The Storm’,
which is one of my many favourites off the album. Another
gentle slice of Scandinavian/West Coast AOR is the Journeyesque ‘Until
You Believe’, before another great rocker in the excellent ‘The Great
Fall’. This
class album just keeps on delivering monster track after monster track,
as the album continues with ‘Call On Me’. Another track straight out of mid
80’s, when tracks like this became the mainstay of movie soundtracks of
that era. Next it's time to get your dancing shoes on with the
tremendous ‘Emelie’. The
great West Coast feel is brought back to the forefront of the album with
‘Fall Down’ again bringing the sound kicking and screaming into the
now, again very much in the TOTO vein, another of my personal favourites
has to be the bluesy ‘Castaway’, before the album closes with another
stunning piece of AOR in ‘One Step Away’, which rounds off what is
without a doubt one of the, if not the best albums of recent years in
this particular genre. |
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Tracklisting: 1. The Rain |
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