Singles review: DREAMS OF AVALON – Under the Gun & Young Wild Hearts

DREAMS OF AVALON – Under the Gun

Two teaser tracks released over the last month by Joachim (Astral Doors) Nordlund’s Melodic Rock band, Dreams Of Avalon. The full album “Beyond The Dream” is due for release at the end of August, by the Metalville label.

It’s unadulterated Eighties’ Melodic Rock, highly derivative in construction and delivery. You’ll hear strong echoes of Bon Jovi and maybe even Blue Tears in the phrasing and melodies. Nothing wrong with that. If you’re going to ‘borrow’, borrow from the best. You can’t beat a bit of “running like the wind” or “hearts beating like a drum” to get you going. It’s the stuff that filled arenas and sold out lighter shops.

Both tracks have an unstoppable, rolling momentum, with ‘Young Wild Hearts’ evoking the FM Radio tones of Gregg Fulkerson’s ‘Rockin With The Radio’, and the punchier, more orchestrated ‘Under The Gun’ slowly and less deliberately revealing the sonic signature of Astral Doors. We should hope that the merged marriage of AOR and Symphonic Rock on the latter track is emblematic of the album as a whole.

It works, like…er, a dream.  ****

Review by Brian McGowan

Hear them both here and here


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

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Power Plays w/c 4 March 2024

COLLATERAL Glass Sky (Big Shot Records)
THE ZUTONS Pauline (ICEPOP)
THE GEORGIA THUNDERBOLTS Rise Above It All (Mascot)
MATT PEARCE & THE MUTINY From Here To The Moon (indie)
THE BLACK VULTURES Never Say (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 4 March 2024

09:00-12:00 LEE AARON Tattoo Me (Metalville)
12:00-13:00 THE END MACHINE The Quantum Phase (Frontiers)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023


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