| Gypsy Rose Gypsy Rose | Escape Music ESM120 |
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Side stepping his main project Dogface, Swedish guitarist Martin Kronlund returns to his past to resurrect a band originally formed in the 80's. The guys have taken the original premise of the band and even some of their original demos and recorded them fresh this year, presenting the extremely overdue debut Gypsy Rose album. The name may be familiar – but this is not the RCA signed American act of the late 80's/early 90s. These guys are all Swedish and although they laid first claim on the name, a release at that time never eventuated. What I am most impressed with here is the strength of the tracks. The debut Dogface album was nothing short of brilliant, but the follow up was short on songs. This sees Martin back to peak forum – albeit in a slightly different style, with each track offering something to the album and no fillers in sight. Style wise, we are talking Swedish melodic hard rock at its best. There is a definite 80s vibe to the material, but a very solid production and some big similarities to classic 80s Scorpions. Singer Hakan Gustafsson has a raspy and gritty voice in a style I haven't heard much of in recent times. Highlights amongst the rockers include the catchy and commercial You Drive Me Crazy, the anthemic Promise To Stay (featured in demo form on the last MelodicRock compilation), the frantic rocker You Are The One and similarly tempo'd Fender '59. Pick of the album for me is an old favourite! Queen Of The Night is a great melodic rock anthem with a catchy as hell chorus. The song was originally demoed for the debut Dogface album and it's great to finally see it featured on an album. Hakan adds his raspy growl to the song giving it a different feel than the Mats Levin demo and it fits this album perfectly. Mats makes an appearance here on backing vocals. The ballad Moonlight is very reminiscent of classic Scorpions (as is much of the album thanks to Hakan) and traces of Winds Of Change can be heard here. The other big ballad is the brilliant December Night. It features a nice uptempo rhythm and a great melodic chorus.
It's a little more commercial again, so this may appeal to a different demographic too as well as fans of The Scorpions and Swedish melodic rock with an 80's twist.
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07/10/05: Steve - nscrfan62@aol.com
29/09/05: jack - cryptblood1986@hotmail.com
27/09/05: rich - themusicman01@hotmail.com
Rating: 75
Love the guitar work. Very crafty stuff. But doesn't his vocals sound a little like the old lead Japenese singer from Loudness? Other than that a very solid strong CD. 1 1/2 thumbs up!
Rating: 80
I personally didn't like the heavy guitars. This album would of been much better if the guitar work wasn't so heavy and if it had much longer guitar solos & more complex guitaring, I find some tracks a bit too repetative. Although the hooks were kind of catchy, but could of been much more catchy. I found this album as another average in my collection, if you're looking for something that sounds similar to Gypsy Rose check out Shylock.
Rating: 99
This is awesome! If you like classic melodic hard rock. Buy it!
Timeless rock, great melodys, heavy guitars, fat keyboards, growling drums, very good singer! Classic!!! You dont hear much of this music anymore...
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