Never Surrender (Edit)

Rev It Up (Edit)

Rocket Love (Edit)

Swedish band ROCKETT LOVE and their debut is full of energy. Guitarist Stefan Westerlund, frontman Daniel Samuelson and the guys know how to rock. Consisting of mostly middle-aged musicians, ROCKETT LOVE is the fulfillment of a dream. A demo of the mighty title track aroused the interest of none other than legendary producer Beau Hill who agreed to work on that very track. But due to Christian Svedin, also the rest of the material is powerful and certainly not old-fashioned in any way although the songs are pretty eighties flavored. You can't escape party compatible tracks like "Never Surrender", "Line Of Sight" or "We Will Be Heroes". Even "Rev It Up" and its poppy elements is outstanding. Probably THE melodic rock debut of the year! Great stuff!

MARTIN STARK

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSTEP72j0r0

Swedish band ART NATION follow the path of the mighty debut. They are easily able to provide mature songwriting, a great sense for hooklines and diverse arrangements. Melodic anthems like "Kick Up & Kick Down" or "What Do You Want" as well as the irresistible "Ghost Town" showcase their huge talent. With young bands like ART NATION lovers of melodic rock and AOR do not have to worry at all. The genre is alive and kicking. Great one!

MARTIN STARK

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVZbNj426KU

Seventh album of American band that sounds pretty much like AC/DC. "Hello Citizens" is a perfect opener for a collection of pure and straight forward hard rock. Without doubt there is no surprise on any of the songs but no other band is as close to the Bon Scott era of their idols like RHINO BUCKET. "I'm Your Doctor", "It's A Sin" or "Bang My Drum" offer a great taste of the album. Produced by Eddie Spaghetti (SUPERSUCKERS).

MARTIN STARK

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUWwu3Vdx7g

VAIN concentrate on their very qualities on their seventh studio effort and frontman Davy Vain rips it off with his unique voice right from the start ("Rolling With The Punches"). The material mostly being raw and dirty sleaze rock/metal but also showcasing a couple of mid tempo tunes in the middle of the record, like "Dark City", will make fans will dig the album. Nevertheless, the Americans and their charmingly imperfect production can keep their heads up despite strong competitors in 2017. Another argument is the melancholic "Inside Out".

MARTIN STARK

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrhTG9HdDj8

Once again a great statement by Danish power metal outfit PYRAMAZE. Their fifth effort is again full of melodies and lots of mighty keyboard-driven metal. Mostly mid tempo,quite  progressive at times and without a single weak composition, the eleven tracks plus two shorter instrumentals unfold their magic easily. "Contingent" is an amazing blend of THUNDERSTONE, KAMELOT and EVERGREY.

MARTIN STARK

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKERGAAWS9E

A constant source of high quality metal is the SWEDISH outfit ASTRAL DOORS, even though none of the recent albums caught up with the amazing debut "Of The Son And The Father" from 2003. It's melodic metal with the exceptional voice of Niels Patrik Johannson (CIVIL WAR, LION'S SHARE), more or less reminiscent of DIO. The eight album of the Swedes is an atmospherical piece of work and proof of great shape within the band. 

MARTIN STARK

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIVlBrhYQyg

The project by Michael Voss (g, CASANOVA, MAD MAX, PHANTOM 5) and Mark Sweeney (v, ex CRYSTAL BALL) puts out album number three. More guests than ever and what a choice! The likes of Biff Byford (SAXON), Ronnie Atkins (Pretty Maids) or George Lynch (DOKKEN) among others participate. Nevertheless, the quality of songwriting can't always catch up with the calibre of the protagonists.

MARTIN STARK

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_7RLOBerTo

Long lost 24-track-analogue-recordings, once meant to form the follow-up to the 1989 WALK ON FIRE debut, are backbone to "Mind Over Matter". Musicians from ASIA, BRIAN MAY band, SPANDAU BALLETT and Secret Affair were involved. Pretty guitar-driven and showcasing the amazing talent of Alan king on vocals. A record like a time travel to the age when rock was everything. Alone "Spinning Wheel" and "Pleasure Of Pain" would make "Mind Over Matter" a fantastic choice. A melodic rock jewel!

MARTIN STARK

Great live album of Swedish melodic rock masters. Recorded at last year's Frontiers Rock Festival and providing a balanced setlist of recent songs ("Ghost Of Graceland" or "Do Your Own Stunts") or classics like "Conspiracy" or "World Of Promises". Soundwise, the material is fine, although in terms of vocals small bits and pieces seem to have been fixed. Comes as combined CD/DVD release and perfectly serves as entrance into the world of TREAT, too.

MARTIN STARK

watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5cEZwgqVmo

Swedish five-piece CRAZY LIXX is a well-established act and constantly puts out great (melodic) hard rock with a good portion of sleaze. A melodic album without a single average song. But the material is slightly polished soundwise and a bit foreseeable. But frontman Danny Rexon and the guys still rather play in the vein of HARDCORE SUPERSTAR and CRASH DIET than in the vein of TREAT for instance.

MARTIN STARK

watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LCfCi_mgpo

Album number two of the project (?)/the band (?) of the lovely Tave Wanning and her guys. Slightly poppish melodic rock on the one hand and rough uptempo hard rock on the other. Certainly not a milestone of the genre but a solid choice providing a good bunch of songs if you are into female-fronted rock. Definitely harder than the self-titled debut from 2014, with "Love Is Like Poison" and "Wild Side" being especially accessible. Towards the end the initial songwriting quality decreases a bit.

MARTIN STARK

watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrlccUXeUJ8

Bluesy hard rock from up north? Well, Swedish outfit BACKWOOD SPIRIT with Göran Edman (ex YNGWIE MALMSTEEN) on vocals combines seventies classic rock with timeless blues. They sound as if the last three decades did not happen at all. "Backwood Spirits" seems like a lovely reminder of the good old days without denying their own identity. LYNYRD SKYNYRD meets BAD COMPANY and FREE. Also a must-have for fans of RIVAL SONS, too. Heart-warming!

MARTIN STARK

watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UnipNrN-Ds

ITALIAN outfit KINGS OF BROADWAY deliver contemporary and mostly radio-friendly rock. A remarkable cover version of the massive ONE REPUBLIC hit "Counting Stars" rounds up an album well done, an album to absolutely more than please fans of NICKELBACK or DAUGHTRY. A little bit of stoner rock here, a slice of metal there, this debut will take listeners by storm for sure.

MARTIN STARK

watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aZ1Wb7UBVI

The new SHAMELESS record "The Filthy 7" truly is a positive surprise. Mastermind Alexx Michael and the guys offer an amazing cover of BILLIE OCEANS "Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car". It rocks like most of the material. A charmingly rough production highlights the songs which are mostly sung by none other than Phil Lewis (L.A.GUNS), Stevie Rachelle (TUFF) and Steve Summers (PRETTY BOY FLOYD).

MARTIN STARK

watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc93CX5AJ6M

Progressive metal with huge melodies. After several albums of average quality and some line-up changes, Italian band LABYRINTH impressively delivers an album that is the perfect follow-up for their legendary "Return To Heaven Denied" album from 1998. Let alone the highly melodic and multi-layered title track shine. Melodic gems "Still Alive" and "A New Dream" speak for themselves. Good to have you back, boys! A serious competitor for the top ten of 2017.

MARTIN STARK

watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajcjrkpwpK4

"Raining Frogs - The Box Set Collection" of American melodic band UNRULY CHILD contains the four independent albums "Worlds Collide", "Waiting For The Sun", "UCIII" und "Down The Rabbit Hole" plus "Basement Demos" with rare demos, studio sessions and interviews on both CD and DVD. Limited to 1000 copies and printed on vinyl replicas. Finest melodic rock and on "UCIII" even slightly progressive. Partly unavailable for a long time. The singers are Mark Free, Kelly Hansen (FOREIGNER) and Philip Bardowell. Value for money!

MARTIN STARK

listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzKGTlVQDac

Swedish newcomer NOVAK with "Forever Endeavour" is fishing in similar waters as Finnish AOR heroes URBAN TALE. The album shines through nice harmonies, catchy melodies typical Swedish style and the warm voice by frontman and founder Andreas Novak. Overall, most songs are mid-tempo based, sometimes even tending a little over to the softer Westcoast genre ("How Does It feel"). Novak was joined forces by MIND's EYE drummer Daniel Flores and a couple of guests from bands including THERION (!), XSAVIOUR und NARNIA. fans of Swedish sounds and URBAN TALE will dig this record for sure!

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paox9wetvI4

After two west coast orientated albums the heavy weighted Swedish six stringer  hails back with a new label and a much rockier new release. “Louder” offers a good dose of classic melodic hard rock in the vein of Prisoner and the 2^nd Radioactive gem “Yeah” which isn’t that much of a surprise as both Tommy Denander and Geir Rönning (which also handles lead vocals) has produced and written the album. There are a couple of cool groovy hard rockers on “Louder”, but overall the songwriting is not that strong as at the Radioactive cracker while also the hooklines are not that outstanding. If you like Tommy Denander’s previous works you can easily buy this one as well, but it is not an essential purchase.

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hf9eeSAhhU

The Swedish band STATE OF MIND have released an EP and an full album entitled “Mother” which was released in Japan only. “Memory Lane” is a compilation CD containing the songs from the EP and the album as well as two previously unreleased bonus tracks. However, this can't detract from the fact that the music of STATE OF MIND is just average Melodic Hard Rock. Stylistically the band can be compared best with LYNCH MOB and DAMN YANKEES, but too rarely the songs really achieve the qualities of these bands. The melodies and hooklines don't ignite the way you usually expect from a classic album and even singer Conny Lind (AMAZE ME) falls short of your expectations. 

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVzwOY3i6Nk