It’s always great to listen to new bands you have never heard before, and even better when they surprise you with a great album that deserves hearing. This week I got a band that certainly peeked my interest. Black Rose formed out of Fagersta, Sweden in 1990, and the current line-up stands as follows, Thomas Berg – Guitars, Anders Haga – Bass, Peter Thederan – Vocals and Peter Haga – Drums.

Their debut album, “Fortune Favours The Brave” was released in 1993, and have released 2 more albums since, a self titled release in 2002, and “Explode” in 2004. So it has been some time since their last release, but “Turn On The Night” is a album that comes out at the right time, because it seems this genre of music is being popularized all over again recently. It is great that they have kept to their guns over the years, and not fallen into the ‘trend’ category, and this in itself already scores high with me. Their Melodic Hard Rock/Metal style will find favour with many especially when one runs comparisons with such rock power houses like Rainbow, Yngwie J. Malmsteen, and Europe. The release date of the album is set for the 18th January 2013.

The album kicks off nicely with a driving metal rocker “My Enemies”, with great lead guitar work and awesome running bass lines and energetic drumming. The Vocals are both aggressive and powerful, verging on the epic-ness of such bands as Iron Maiden. It kicks into a mid tempo hard rocker with “Rise Again” that brings through influences of bands like Europe; it’s steady and holds itself all the way through. I envisaged myself at an open air concert where I think this song should really come alive, and has all the elements for a great legendary rock / AOR anthem. It’s melodic, its well played, not overly complex, encourages interaction and has a sound that is memorable and ageless. “Never let me down”, begs me to get on a fatboy Harley and hit the road with the song blaring loud in my ears. The bass licks shine wide on this number. The album slows down for a ballad with “We were winners”. A ballad has to be unbelievable good and fresh for me to really enjoy, and unfortunately this falls short of that. It has certain moments where it gets close to breaking through, particularly in the area of the lead guitar. The song also ended to abrupt for me, and felt unfinished. “Hunter” sees them back on form again, with their energetic metal pounding riffs. Some classic solo guitar adds salt to the delivery.

The old school metal / hard rock purveyors should find this album favourable. Its anthemic metal / AOR style is electric. It does bring to mind many other bands, which is not totally a bad thing and I think this will make people more easily engage with it, but its not enough to make it stand out against the mass overflow of albums that are being released recently. I do however believe that their consistency as a group over the years, and great skill level, despite members changing, adds to the quality, and agelessness of the product. That said there are certainly stand out numbers that leap with creativity that pull this album together, and prevent it from being shelved under mediocre. They are as follows: “My Enemies”, “Rise Again”, “Never let me down” and “Our Wisdom”

There is very little that can be said negative about a band that can stand its own in the crowd with such band comparisons as Europe. It has that classic hard rock sound that entwined with its 80’s metal sound delivers a timeless piece of music history that one can be proud to have in ones collection.

Rating: 7 / 10

Written by Donovan de Necker

Tracks:
1. My Enemies
2. Rise Again
3. Turn On The Night
4. Never Let Me Down
5. We Were Winners
6. Hunter
7. The Bold And The Beauty
8. Busted
9. Our Wisdom

Current band line up:
Anders Haga – Bass
Peter Thederan – Vocals
Peter Haga – Drums
Thomas Berg – Guitars

Discography:
Fortune Favours the brave (1993)
Black Rose (2002)
Explode (2004)

Record Label: Doolittle Group, Jan. 2013

Weblinks: Facebook / Website / Myspace

Buy the album here:
Holland & Worldwide: First Paradox Metalrecords

Video below: Black Rose – Rise Again