Review: Sonic Station - Sonic Station

Sonic Station is the vision of Swedish guitarist, composer and producer Alexander Kronbrink. He wanted to make an 80’s AOR style album that would have influences of Toto, Mr. Mister, Journey and some West Coast-sound of Airplay, Michael McDonald and Marc Jordan.

There is a large cast of singers and musicians on Sonic Station. Featured on lead vocals: Marika Willstedt, Magnus Bäcklund, Kristoffer Fogelmark &  Tove Lo, guitars: Alexander Kronbrink, keyboards: Jonathan Fritzén, Marika Willstedt, David Larson & Alexander Kronbrink, bass: Henrik Linder, Johan Hansén-Larson, Erik Metall, Kristofer Sundström & Johan Ivansson, drums: Aron Mellergårdh, Thern Pettersson & Niklas Almgren, percussion: Andreas Ekstedt, backing vocals: Marika Willstedt, Kristoffer Fogelmark, Oskar Nilsson, Matilda Bådagård & Alexander Kronbrink, saxophone: Conny Lindgren, trumpet, Flugelhorn: Erik Palmberg

The pilgrimage back to the 80’s begins with an instrumental piece with the unlikely name, “Intro”. It’s an airy song with layers of synthesizers, echoed guitars and trumpet. It’s a nice lead-in to “Love’s Gonna Show the Way”, the catchiest song on the album. From the moment the almost acapella vocals come in you are hooked. I dare you to not sing along.

“You Have to let me go” is a composite of 80’s meets the present. Tove Lo’s raunchy vocals are the energy that really drives this song through the roof. Also, Kronbrink ushers in the return of the guitar solo.

What would an 80’s/West Coast album be without a ballad? “The Most Beautiful Fear” more than satisfies that need. It was an expansion of a chord progression that Kronbrink’s father (also a song writer) shared with him some years ago. This track also has over 20 tracks of percussion on it.

 “Never Let the Sunshine Die” is the perfect canvas for Kronbrink to paint his rainbow of guitar licks on. His guitar is literally wailing and weeping as he sets the stage for Kristoffer Fogelmark to take over. He sings about the sky crying out rain, mirroring the sentiment with his raspy vocals. The song ends with an equally impressive outro-solo.

The album Sonic Station is teeming with amazing guitar sounds and synth patches. Kronbrink set out to recapture the feel of the 80’s. He succeeds in giving us a glimpse into where that sound would have evolved to had it stayed in the mainstream. The 80s were about excess in everything including record production.  I hope this is the album that launches that sound back into the forefront.

4/5 Stars

Key Tracks: Love's Gonna Show the Way, You Have to Let Me Go, The Most Beautiful Fear, Never Let the Sunshine Die


Kirk Bullough

Tracks: 1. Intro 2. Love's Gonna Show the Way 3. I Wish I Could Lie 4. Hold On to Me 5. You Have to Let Me Go 6. The Most Beautiful Fear 7. Running Through the Night 8. Never Let the Sunshine Die 9. My Last Refrain 10. Love You More 11. Reasons

Artist:  Sonic Station
Title:  Sonic Station
Genre: West Coast/ AOR
Release Date: February 28, 2012
Label:  Frontiers Records
Website: http://www.sonic-station.com/

Review: Fergie Fredericksen - Happiness is the Road

When I was 15 years old my brother took me to see Toto. It was the Isolation tour and the singer just happened to be Fergie Frederiksen. I hadn’t stayed up on what happened to Frederiksen after his stint in Toto, but a few of the songs on that CD are still some of my favorites.

I was curious as to what Frederiksen had been up to so I did a few Google searches. It seems that Frederiksen has had a few ups and downs since his Toto days. He even retired for a while to run a restaurant with his father, but quickly realized there was no life for him without music.

I was saddened to learn that he had been diagnosed with an inoperable cancer earlier this year. It turns out, to the surprise of his doctors he is now almost cancer free. This is the backdrop for Happiness Is The Road. This is an album that is steeped in emotion. Happiness is the Road is just about enjoying being alive, enjoying the journey without worrying about the destination too much.

There are some great musicians on this album: Dennis Ward (Bass Guitar, Guitars, Keyboards, Background Vocals and Producer), Dirk Bruinenberg (Drums), Nathan Eshman (Guitars) and Eric Ragno (Keyboards).

“Angel (Mirror to your Soul)” is a nice way to start this album. It’s has a really catchy chorus and it rocks pretty good. The sound reminds me of Asia or Survivor. “Follow Your Heart” seems to be the show piece of the album. It has great lyrics and Frederiksen knows just how squeeze every last drop of emotion out of the vocals. It starts quiet with just piano and vocals and then builds into nice power ballad.

The catchy keyboards and guitars in “Lyin Eyes” remind me of a cross between The Cars and Journey. “Writing On The Wall” has a nice instrumental break at the end that reminds me of Toto quite a bit.

My favorite track on Happiness is the Road is “The One”. It starts out with just keyboard and then the other instruments come in in-between the rest to accent the beat. The guitar starts to play a muted lick that reminds me of the guitar part during the verses of Toto’s “Hold the Line”. “The One” is a very catchy song. There is a nice guitar solo doubled by the bass in parts and all the keyboards create a nice ambience for the song.

The album ends strong with a song in a similar style to the previous one. “The Savior,” has a keyboard part that is ridiculously catchy. It’s so happy it could put an ogre into a good mood. The call and answer solos between the guitar and keyboard keep up the quick momentum of the song. The song ends with Frederiksen singing, “No need to worry, I will stay around whenever you need.” It is all the reassurance I need to know that he’s gonna stick around and rock us for many years to come.

I really enjoyed listening to Happiness Is The Road. I secretly hoped there would be some members from Toto playing on it. But the same pleasure centers in my brain were satisfied by the talented musicians that did play on this CD. If you liked Toto, Asia, Survivor, Kansas or Journey you will like this album.

4/5 Stars

Key Tracks: Follow Your Heart, The One, The Savior

Kirk Bullough

Tracks: 1 Angel (Mirror To Your Soul) 2 Elaine 3 First To Cry 4 Follow Your Heart 5 Happiness Is The Road 6 I Still Believe In Love 7 Lyin' Eyes 8 Love Waits For No One 9 Writing On The Wall 10 The Future Ain't What It Used To Be 11 The One 12 The Savior

Artists: Fergie Frederiksen

Title: Happiness Is the Road

Genre: AOR

Label: Frontier Records

Website: http://fergiefrederiksen.com

Review: The Magnificent: The Magnificent

Pair up an amazing guitarist (Torsti Spoof/Leverage) with an equally amazing singer (Michael Eriksen/Circus Maximus) and you have the potential for something really amazing. Call the band “The Magnificent” and you have really set your sites high.

Rounding out the lineup is Rolf Pilve on drums, Sami Norbacka on bass and Jukka Karinen on keyboards.

Their debut album The Magnificent starts off on the right foot with a very catchy “Holding on to Your Love”. This song has very distinctive rhythms and I really like the lead guitar lick. There are two guitars playing in harmony and then doing an artificial harmonic trick that reminds me of Lamb of God’s, “Laid to Rest”. The vocals and harmonies make this song sound enormous. The balance between the guitars and keyboards is perfect. The whole feel of the song is intensified by all of the cymbals that are being knocked around in this tune.

“Bullets” is probably my favorite song on the album, because when you have this kind of fire power in a band you don’t want to waste it on a bunch of love songs. The lyrics, “some may fall, some stand tall, but there’re bullets enough to take us all down, down to the ground” is a reminder that no matter what station you rise to in this life you are just as mortal as the next person.

“Harvest Moon” is a great way to finish this collection. It’s a nice power ballad with lots of beefy guitars, bright keyboards and a bit of room to just sit back and take it all in. After all of the blistering guitar solos, deep drum fills and spine tingling bass runs this is a nice way to gently bring you back down to reality.

I would say the sound of this band could best be described as what the offspring of Whitesnake and Europe would sound like were they to hook up.

The musicianship and vocals are masterful, but where this album lacks is in the lyrics, if this band can come up with some meaningful lyrics that resonate with their listeners they will be unstoppable.

Rating: 4 / 5 Stars

Key Tracks: Holding on to Your Love, Bullets, Harvest Moon

Kirk Bullough

Tracks: 1. Holding On To Your Love 2. Cheated By Love 3. Memories 4. Angel 5. Satin & Lace 6.Love`s On The Line 7. Bullets 8.Smoke & Fire 9.Tired Of Dreaming 10. If It Takes All Night 11. Lost 12. Harvest Moon

Artists: The Magnificent

Title: The Magnificent

Genre: Melodic Rock

Label: Frontiers Records

Review: Beggars & Thieves – We are the Broken Hearted

In 1989 Louie Merlino (vocals) called up his buddy Ronnie Mancuso (guitar) and convinced him to move from Los Angeles to New York where he was living at the time. They wrote half of their first album in a week. After about 6 gigs Beggars & Thieves landed a record deal with Atlantic Records. Their first single “Beggars & Thieves” made it to Billboards Top 40. After their A & R man left Atlantic the band was stuck in limbo. They signed on to Epic where they recorded their second album Look What You Create but Epic never released it.

By this time grunge had taken off and record companies weren’t interested in pop-metal anymore. In 1997 Look What You Create was finally released on MTM Music. The band released a third album, The Grey Album in 1999 also with MTM Music.

In 2010 Beggars & Thieves reunited to play at Firefest in Nottingham, England where they received great reviews and were voted biggest surprise of the festival.

Now on the momentum of Firefest, Beggars & Thieves have released their latest album, We Are The Broken Hearted. They have added Erik Gloege on drums and Blake Newman on bass to complete the band.

We Are The Broken Hearted starts strong with “We Come Undone”. It has a great driving bass line, nice harmonies and an array of little guitar sounds that you really need headphones to appreciate in its fullest.

“Oil & Water” is probably my favorite track on the album. It opens with some guitar that reminds me of AC/DC’s “For Those About To Rock” and then fades into a nice ballad with raunchy, distorted guitar sounds, precise bass parts and the steady drum beat with the occasional tasteful drum fill. I love this slow heavy feel. Over the top of this ocean of heavy is a nice acoustic guitar and “Robert Plant” style vocals.

In the middle of “Innocence” is a cool bridge where everything cuts out except the bass and drums, then leads into a jammin’ guitar solo. “Never Gonna See You Again” starts with a hypnotic acoustic guitar playing alongside a lonesome hi-hat. In come the vocals and then some really cool bass and drums kick in. About half way through the guitar solo some really nice piano work kicks in giving the whole song a different feel. The song then cuts back to just guitar and hi-hat, builds into one last chorus with everything and then ends with just guitar and the hi-hat.

Things change up a little when you get to “Beautiful Loser” with its dual slide guitar intro. This song is another great mix between acoustic and electric guitars. The pre-chorus reminds me a little of Slaughter. There are some nice arpeggios in this song and another spot on guitar solo. The vocals remind me of Chris Cornell. “Seven Sounds” is a little heavier with a wall of guitars and an Axel Rose style vocal. There is a great melodic guitar lick in the chorus that I like quite a bit. “Stranded” starts with Mandolin and acoustic guitar, everything kicks in and Merlino’s gruff vocals start to weave a story. “I remember, stranded in the streets of Brooklyn, all alone under the dark red sky, find a bar and go inside, demons must be fed, two shots of mercy fuel the gods their singing in your head”.

“Wash Away” reminds me of “All Night Thing” by Temple of the Dog. It’s a nice soulful slow song, with nice harmonies. “Midnight Blue” starts a lot different with some synthesizer sound effects and then into some slightly distorted guitars that remind me of the Alarm. The guitar solo in this one has the coolest flanger effects and the song ends with a beautiful piano part as all the other instruments fade.

The album finishes up strong with “We are the Brokenhearted”, an anthem that reflects the turmoil the world is going through, encouraging unity instead of despair.

We Are The Broken Hearted is littered with smart, well-crafted songs, with catchy melodies and great rock riffs. Merlino can still belt it out and Mancuso is better than ever.

Mancuso said of this release, “This isn’t just some guy’s trying to have a little fun reliving the past. We are very serious about this. We want to compete with the big boys!”

What they have created is great album. I hope this is the vehicle that finally propels them to the stardom that was stolen from them and is rightfully theirs.

4/5 stars

Key Tracks: Oil & Water, Wash Away, We are the Broken Hearted

Kirk Bullough

Tracks: 1. We Come Undone 2. Oil & Water 3. Innocence 4. Never Gonna See You Again 5. Beautiful Losers 6. Seven Seconds 7. Stranded 8. Wash Away 9. Midnight Blue 10. We Are The Brokenhearted

Artists: Beggars & Theives

Title: We are the Broken Hearted

Genre: Album Oriented Rock

Label: Frontiers Records

Website: http://www.beggarsnthieves.com

Review: Royal Hunt - Show Me How To Live

Let the hunt begin! Cue horse sounds, bring in the timpani and medieval battle music, add some swords clanging, fade in the operatic voices then cresendo to a boil.

Sounds like the makings of some great cinema and it is inside my head where I am picturing knights going out to battle their enemies and DC Cooper is back to lead that charge.

Show Me How To Live is a return to the classic Royal Hunt sound. It’s teeming with big, slick melodic arrangements, layers of glossy keyboards and jaw dropping guitar licks. A lot of care has been taken to make everything sound larger than life. Royal Hunt (est. 1989) are Andre Andersen (Keyboard) , DC Cooper (Vocals), Allan Sorensen (Drums), Andreas Passmark (Bass) and Jonas Larsen (Guitar).

“Another Man Down” starts slow with some mythical sounding piano and builds into a powerful, impassioned rock anthem. The Bass at the beginning of this song really creates the mood. The chorus sounds majestic with its harmonized vocals dripping with luring textures. I love the wah driven guitar solo in the middle of the song. It ends with DC singing “I open my eyes and I envy another man down” as everything fades out.

“An Empty Shell” is anything but empty with its driving keyboards and rhythm section. There is an amazing lightning fast keyboard solo towards the end that reminds me of something off of Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force, followed by an equally scorching guitar solo.

“Hard Rain’s Coming” is a pleasant surprise with its harpsichord intro shadowed by overdriven guitar power chords. There is some amazing bass work in the interlude and the guitar lines just seem to float like a feather over the top of it.

“Half Past Loneliness” starts with a hypnotizing bass line and that amazing snare sound peppers this whole album like ‘it’ was the spice of life.

The rest the album finishes strong with another anthem, “Show Me How To Live” and wraps it up with “Angel’s Gone” with its classical pizzicato strings, timpani and organ sounds leading into a great guitar solo and more colossal vocals. This song builds to monumental heights adding guitar solos on top of keyboard solos on top of drums solos with the bass holding everything together like glue. A few orchestra hits, some really cool drums and, “sigh”, the battle is won!

Show Me How To Live has made the wait for a new Royal Hunt album worth it. Certainly this strong release will close out the year with tremendous momentum that will carry them into 2012 and beyond.

 4/ 5 stars

Key Tracks: Another Man Down, Show Me How To Live, Hard Rains Coming

Kirk Bullough

Tracks: 1. One More Day 2. Another Man Down 3. An Empty Shell 4. Hard Rain's Coming 5. Half Past Loneliness 6. Show Me How To Live 7. Angel's Gone

Artists: Royal Hunt

Title: Show Me How To Live

Genre: Progressive Metal

Label: Frontiers Records

Website: http://www.royalhunt.com