Art Nation is an absolutely superb slice of glorious Scandi-AOR. Yes, another Swedish masterpiece is upon us. Anyone who purchased or heard the very highly rated Diamond Dawn debut album needs to sit up and pay attention here.
The band features former vocalist of that band Alexander Strandell and all of that band’s best qualities – big keyboards, big guitars, big hooks, big harmonies and big attitude.
The album rocks pretty hard in places (for an AOR release at least), with a couple of tracks going into double kick drum territory.
The bulk of the songs however are just perfect, sweet, anthemic melodic rockers, with the tempo and feel good factors both “up”.
There’s a little Brother Firetribe and a little H.E.A.T sound to these guys, which I’m sure will bother absolutely no one reading this.
It’s song after song; chorus after chorus here. The record doesn’t let up for a minute.
At this time of year I have to push out too many reviews that deserve more space and time, but don’t let the brevity of this one stop you from checking out one of the year’s best pure AOR, 80s influenced releases.
