Album review: BLACK SWAN – Generation Mind

Frontiers [Release date 08.04.22]

Black Swan follow up 2020′s Shake The World with the much more confident, cohesive, Generation Mind.

Robin McAuley, Reb Beach, Matt Starr and Jeff Pilson form a formidable collective. Each transforming his own success and experience into a key component of this extraordinary rock band.

It’s rare to encounter an assembly of been-there, done-that artists who can deliver a fresh spin on eighties melodic hard rock. Especially one where everything gells.

The album is lined with towering, wall to wall choruses and harmonies.The songs are brimful of sturdy tunes as the band relives the passion, the flair and the sheer joy of great melodic rock. McAuley sounds better than ever.

You listen to the title track, and say ‘She Hides Behind’ and ‘Eagles Fly’, almost picked at random. These are ambitious, amped up rock songs with anthemic, radio ready choruses. They sounds deceptively simple, but you have to be severely talented to make it sound this good, this simple.

Beach is on fire. On ‘Killer On The Loose’ and ‘Miracle’, he doesn’t so much craft a riff as carve it out in huge chunks, leaving the rest of the band to the remorseless pursuit of that awesome emotional moment where melodic rock/AOR, or whatever you want to call it, transcends its genre limitations, and just takes off.

Even when they’re recycling old ideas, it’s done with such enthusiasm and skill. ‘See You Cry’ and ‘I Will Follow’ are two heavily melodic rock songs which typically jettison the ballast of unnecessary adornment. Each crests a wave of thunderous power chords, spinning out an aggressively infectious hook, yet . . . they have heart and soul and warmth.

This is how it used to be, only right now. ****1/2

Review by Brian McGowan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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Power Plays w/c 24 March 2025

HARRI LARKIN Too Close To The Sun (Robot Distro)
SANDNESS Not Your Dog (Rockshots Records)
DOCTOR BLACK Drag Me Down (indie)
COHEED AND CAMBRIA Goodbye Sunshine (Virgin Music Group)
LEONI JANE KENNEDY Closer (indie)
SMALL TOWN POLITICS Red Lights (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 24 March 2025

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Singer Songwriter)

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