Frontiers [Release date 04.08.23]
Third album from Swedish melodic rock band, Rian, led by exceptionally talented vocalist/ guitarist Richard Andermyer. Their second on Frontiers.
The band’s label debut, titled Twenty Three, was reviewed in GRTR! back in 2021.
Here’s what we said: “there’s something instantly familiar and yet remarkably fresh about Rian’s material, and there’s a sonic warmth to the many songs that arrive unencumbered of a need to sound relevant, relying solely on supple melodies, taut guitars and meaty rhythms.”
Andermyer’s musical partnership with guitarist Tobias Jakobsson has blossomed in the last two years. Together, the duo just knock us out with slick axe footwork and sturdy hooks.
Like Treat and Eclipse, they strip the polish off eighties’ AOR, revealing a grittier, more resilient shade of melodic rock, willing and able to stand toe to toe with anything that today’s established bands have to offer.
‘Carry My Wings’ has more of a US influence, one for the AOR purist perhaps, and ‘We Ride’, which sounds a little like Paul Laine’s Dark Horse, picks up a bluesy, hard driving country rock momentum.
But it’s two back to back tracks that will demand your attention. Aside from spiralling up into a marvellous melodic rock stomp, ‘Don’t Wait For The Fire’ has an interestingly mature take on intimate relationships. A rarity in the genre.
And ‘Dance The Night Away’, more a vignette than a rock song, speeds up and slows down depending on the narrative’s emotional temperature, doing a persuasive job of matching style with substance.
Elsewhere, the slow burning ‘Silence Of Our Dreams’ is one of the better AOR ballads you’ll hear this year, while ‘Look At The Stars’ merges romanticism and social commentary, forming a memorably different melodic rock song. ****
Review by Brian McGowan
Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK
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Power Plays w/c 15 April 2024
ENMY The Ledge (FiXT)
KAROBELA Get Hard (indie)
KATH & THE KICKS Neptune (indie)
THE BEE TELLERS River Poem (Black Sand Records)
LAUREN FREEBIRD Like A Bomb (indie)
Featured Albums w/c 15 April 2024
09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023
14:00-16:00 KATARINA PEJAK – Pearls On A String (Ruf Records)
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