You’ve gotta hand it to the Swedes. No matter how many great albums they throw at us, there’s always more coming up right behind.
The latest purveyors of the fine classic AOR/melodic rock tradition is Care Of Night a group formed out of the demise of heavy rockers Seven Tears.
After a couple of lineup changes the band that would record this debut album was locked in.
What we have here is another wonderfully produced slice of Swedish AOR perfection.
Erik & Anders Wigelius (of fellow Swedish AOR favourites Wigelius) are responsible for the slick sound and mix, while the band themselves have written some classy traditional AOR songs with an updated feel so as not to date the music.
Vocalist Calle Schönberg has a touch of Peter Cetera in his tone, while the rest of the band simply delivers another lesson in ‘how Sweden does great music’.
Think Wigelius, State Of Salazar, Work Of Art, Houston, FM, the original Heat and you get the picture – happy, easy going pomp/pop AOR with layers of vocals and keyboards in that uptempo feel good style we all love.
The metal roots from a couple of the guys means that there’s some extra punch on occasion here, but the majority is very commercial AOR.
The free flowing lushness of Cassandra and Heart Belongs gets the album off to a perfect start. But it doesn’t stop there, with Those Words equally catchy and a big ballad Dividing Lines delivering sentiment in spades, even throwing in some saxophone.
Say A Prayer is impossibly catchy in that Work Of Art style of AOR; Please Remember adds a bit of tempo; Give Me Strength reminds me of British rockers FM and Say You Will is a 7 minute epic to close out the album, featuring a soft acoustic guitar and lead vocal until near the 5 minute mark when the band kicks in for a raucous climax.
You got it folks – if you’re a paid up member of the Swedish Ministry Of Melodic Rock – then you know what to do.
Another wonderful example of a genre that refuses to grow old and die.
