This was not what I had expected when spinning this CD for the first time after simply judging by the album cover and the bands image. It is a bit of a surprise. Formed in Sweden in 2006 the record company material claims that these guys will be “thrilled to provide the soundtrack to your financial recovery and bail out the rock market”
‘All Because of Me’ starts out very AOR/Melodic and light. The vocals from Thomas Vikström, (ex-Candlemass and Therion) compliment the music perfectly and place a new take on Thomas’ voice. The tracks themselves are well structured and taking all the influences from Bon Jovi to Tyketto. Ok, they are not groundbreaking but they certainly make you want to listen, I had a feeling I would want to switch this off but this is definitely not the case. The solo on the aforementioned tracks fits very well, but ‘Till the End’ rocks just that little bit harder whereas ‘Shine’ mellows things down again whilst sounding like a big commercial teen-flick soundtrack song leaning towards the music of Journey (which is not a bad thing by the way!) at their commercial peak.
The album is just “nice”, nothing more, and nothing less. ‘Never Again’ takes me back to my school days from hearing all the commercial sounding stuff on the radio, it’s strange how Covered Call have taken me back to those days! If you are in a heavy frame of mind, this is not the album for you; it relaxes you and enables you to sit back and chill, as it is such an easy listen. I still cannot get over the power from the vocals. Basing themselves in the strong AOR/melodic hard rock field, a band has to be good and I am drawn to other less known comparisons of bands like Dreamhunter and Danny Danzi, the flow of Covered Call’s album is perfect. ‘I Wanna be Free’ reminds me of a famous Whitesnake track in the opening riff that settles down into more original material, there is constantly that Tyketto vibe for me. ‘What About Us’ for me, is a stand out tune of the album, it simply fills you with hope and joy with an infectious groove laced backing track.
Sometimes I thought that this album is 20 years too late, but then when you look at the healthy AOR/Melodic Hard Rock scene, Covered Call are right up in the mix of things and I am sure will attract a healthy following. As much as you may want to dismiss this album, you cannot, it is soulful and gets under your skin, and you just cannot help enjoying every single track.
http://www.coveredcall.se/
http://www.myspace.com/coveredcall
http://www.blisteringrecords.se
