The Swedes do it again! What a great little melodic rock n pomp album this is. Filled to the brim with Swedish melodic goodness and bubbling over with uplifting harmonies and catchy choruses.
The band has an interesting sound. It’s hard to be original in this day and age, but these guys have their own swagger, that’s for sure.
What I’m hearing here is a mix of Swedish pop/rock and melodic rock with Styx influenced pomposity mixed in.
Vocalist Marcus Nygren is a real find. He wrote all the lyrics and music here and his vocals are the driving force behind the album.
Imagine some anthemic Mitch Malloy mixed with Toby Hitchcock and the smooth AOR of last year’s Find Me project. Add some 70s Styx pomp and some 80s Toto precision Westcoast and you might get close to State Of Salazar.
Whatever the sound, the songs are brilliant and draw you back in each time. Without repeating themselves, there’s one hit song after another.
I Believe In You is a happy go lucky pop rocker with a sweet vocal; Field Of Dreams sounds like the straight ahead melodic rock of Blanc Faces/Find Me; All The Way sounds like classic 70s Styx with an AOR chorus; while the ballad Love Of My Life could have come from any classic 80s rock soundtrack.
Elsewhere the melodic goodness of Eat Your Heart Out is pomp perfection; the immense Catastrophe is anything but, with the band showing depth with additional layers of strings; and Always is simply pop rock happiness.
Adrian is the band at their anthemic, layered pompous best and the ballad End Of Time is a relaxed way to close out a pretty energetic record.
A real find and destined to be one of the best debut albums of 2014. Packed with catchy hooks, glorious melodies and choruses at every turn.
If you enjoy anything out of Sweden and the lighter side of melodic rock, then these guys are an absolute must get.
Classy world-class production just tops off an all-round great record.
Swedish trio Freak Kitchen are back with Cooking with Pagans, their eight and most frantic album to date. The band has always been a tremendously respected live act and for the first time the energetic live vibe of Freak Kitchen has been captured in the studio. With influences stretching from AC/DC to classical South Indian music the three norsemen, lead by guitar virtuoso Mattias IA Eklundh, truly have a sound of their own.
Cooking with Pagans offer eleven intense original songs plus a sophisticated punk pop version of the 1936 hit Goody Goody like you never heard it before. Solid, inspired song writing (not to say playing) from start to finish.
Thanks to a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign, bringing in almost $150,000, a very ambitious animated video, directed by legendary artist (and author of Blacksad) Juanjo Guarnido to the track Freak of the Week is in pain staking production by a world class team of animators. The video will premiere at Comic Con in New York in October.
Freak Kitchen will tour the world from November and the better part of 2015 to support their new release.
The band:
Mattias IA Eklundh, vocals, guitar
Christer Ortefors, bass, vocals
Bjorn Fryklund, drums
25 years later… Swedish Melodic Rockers DALTON return with “Pit Stop”! Out on Frontiers in October.
Swedish Melodic Rockers DALTON return after a 25 years break with their brand new album “Pit Stop” coming out on Frontiers Music Srl on October 17th in Europe and October 21st in North America.
Together with Europe and Treat, for a few years in the late 80’s, DALTON was a force to be reckoned with in Sweden. They enjoyed successful touring, teen media coverage, TV appearances and a string of radio hits. Even world stars such as Bon Jovi and Michael Bolton provided original songs to their two albums.
The band, formed by ex-Treat drummer Mats Dahlberg and named after his nickname, went all in with the current trends in melodic hair metal. Their image was cutting edge with designer outfits and enough hair spray every night to challenge the average user’s yearly consumption. The band was killed by grunge in the early 90´s, a destiny shared by many bands of the 80´s.
“I left the band because I wanted a harder edge while the rest of the guys wanted to go softer”, Mats explains. He formed the short lived band Speedy Gonzales with guitarist Tommy Denander and Therion-singer Thomas Vikström, but the project folded before it took off. The rest of the Dalton members continued with a replacement drummer, but shortly called it a day. Dalton was left behind in the pit stop, dried out of gas.
25 years after their debut album “The Race Is On”, the original members came back with a vengeance and a reunion filmed for TV. “That’s how it started”, Mats explains. “A producer called me and asked if we would reunite and if they could film it for a documentary. I thought it was a joke”. “So did I”, Bosse laughs, “but it was true - and from the first rehearsal it was like time had stood still. It was so much fun!”
Old hits were polished to shine and the success at premiere gig when opening for THE SCORPIONS in Sweden in December 2012 was a fact. “That night back in December ignited the fuse, we all felt the same”, says Bosse – “let’s get the Dalton wheels in motion again. We want to celebrate the legacy of the 80’s rock scene by putting out a new album and take it on tour. Just like we did back in the days”.
Loaded with inspiration and dedication the band went through demos made for the never recorded third album along with some newly written songs. They ended up with 11 pure excellent tracks crafted for a 80’s flavored Melodic Rock album in a contemporary suit, recorded in good company with magic minded producer Erik Mårtensson (Eclipse, W.E.T.).
A first shimmering taste of the songs from album was revealed at the Frontiers Rock Festival where the band premiered the track “Hey You” in front of an ecstatic crowd. DALTON is fueled up and back on the race track, ready to go – the race is on!
More samples from the album are available now via this link:
“Pit Stop” will include the following tracks: Ready Or Not; Hey You; Don't Tell Me Lies; Follow Your Dreams; Up & Down; Bad Love; One Voice; Here We Are; Something For The Pain; 50/50; TGIF.
