Artist: Last Autumn's Dream
Label: Escape Music
Release: 2007
Now this is an interesting band! A must-try for fans of Scandi-Central European melodic hard rock and AOR! A must. This hyperactive band, whose “Saturn Skyline” is already their fourth studio album in a row, put out their self-titled debut not that long ago! Three years back, in 2004 to be exact! The original lineup had no fewer than three members of Europe: Mic Michaeli (keyboards), John Levén (bass) and Ian Haugland (drums). At first the idea was that this would be a brand-new band for them! But the cards of fate (if you believe in that stuff, which you’d better not, heh heh) can fall in funny ways! Those three left the band after the landmark deal to reunite Europe was reached. Singer Mikael Erlandsson, who can boast some enviable solo studio work, and ex-Fair Warning guitarist Andy Malecek were suddenly left completely high and dry overnight. Help came fast though, and the gap was filled by half of the lineup of their Swedish compatriots in Talisman. That’s the whole Talisman rhythm section: Marcel Jacob (bass) and Jamie Borger (drums).
The follow-up to the debut, “II.” (2005), somehow didn’t live up to expectations. With that album the band was feeling around and testing out a newly created environment for realizing their musical vision, and so for a short while they were skating on “thin ice”. That’s why “II.” served up choppier, more direct songs. It was simply more of a “safe bet” record, with less songwriting wit and atmosphere! Even in total darkness you take careful steps, if you get what I’m trying to say. But on “Winter In Paradise” (2006) the guys had already found the right common language. The pomp of the debut and the AOR pretentiousness that us dreamers love and hunt for were back! “Saturn Skyline” is a repeat of that excellent predecessor! The lineup, of course, stayed unchanged, and “Saturn Skyline” in two words is: “Magic born!”
For everyone who gets fired up about classic eighties AOR, the kind that here and there shamelessly touches pop rock (After Tomorrow’s Gone or American Girl – a Journey-style tune) with huge bombastic choruses, welcome aboard! With us is Scandinavian perfection, with perfectly balanced, crystal-clear production and an innocent pinch of slightly pushed-forward riffing. And what’s truly incredible is that the songs make up an interestingly varied puzzle, a neat reflection of where the individual band members come from. A collision of the Scandinavian and German schools! Malecek can’t hide his classic German school roots, which shows especially in certain transitional passages that he decorates with flourishes from Pink Cream 69, Fair Warning too, and Frontline. But the album doesn’t succumb to that! The element is dosed just right and brings a great factor to the record, one that only boosts the variety and dynamics of the songs. Malecek is a lover of classicism! His solo in the song Pages comes very close to Yngwie J. Malmsteen, so we’re talking about a multilayered guitar virtuoso with a range from the aforementioned excellence all the way to Michael Schenker, proving he was simply born to be surrounded by three Swedes in a band!
The album’s only “silliness” is the fourth song, Rock N’ Roll Is Saving My Soul. It’s not hard to figure out that this is the album’s deliberate “funny song”, meant to wake up the mood and dynamics, but I think the guys outgrew that a long time ago, and they could release, say, a special “karaoke” album of their own for that purpose some other time. This track serves up a third-rate boozy mix of The Beatles and the legacy of Central European “eighties hard” rock (Krokus, Vengeance, the “Krauts”). On top of that it’s the longest track on the record and consequently the most mind-numbing (repetitiveness!!!). These are the moments that sink the record. In short, if you can’t stand drunken bellowing, skip this one! You’ll be doing yourself a favor! I Know A Lot About Love happily puts things back where they belong, and from there to the closing Skyscraper the album keeps flowing superbly along the lines laid out in the first three songs.
Singer Mikael Erlandsson is a vocal chameleon! Much like power metal’s Andi Deris (Helloween). Erlandsson can deliver an interesting, slightly raspy velvetiness that combines (listen to the punchy ballad Frozen Heart) a touch of Joe Lynn Turner (ex-Rainbow) and Klaus Meine (Scorpions). And with his voice he can also pull off the role of the cheeky bad boy, like Jon Bon Jovi (Bon Jovi), especially in the faster rockers. But he’s also capable of totally clean melodic singing, which the guys of course put to good use. Erlandsson is the one who, with his chameleon act, brings most of the “groove” to the album. The guy has a magic touch, and that’s the engine of Last Autumn’s Dream. Top-notch melodic vocals that fit the lead motifs perfectly in every single passage. And of course there’s no skipping the layered vocal harmonies in the choruses. They’re, as any decent AOR record requires, polished down to the last hair!
“Saturn Skyline” cements Last Autumn’s Dream. It confirms that the guys have found the right creative environment for realizing their vision and great working chemistry in the studio. A compact AOR album with just the right dose of bombast, offering a proper springboard for the next step forward! Last Autumn’s Dream need visibility right now! Recognition, a presence at the center of the action. The crowds have to notice them. The band absolutely needs to build a fan base so that their quality body of work doesn’t end up overlooked by accident.
Lineup
Mikael Erlandsson – vocals
Andy Malecek – guitar
Marcel Jacob – bass
Jamie Borger – drums
Production
Last Autumn’s Dream
Track list
1. For The Young & The Wild
2. After Tomorrows Gone
3. Pages
4. Rock´n Roll Is Saving My Soul
5. I Know A Lot About Love
6. Critical
7. Supersonic
8. Frozen Heart
9. American Girl
10. Domino
11. Still On The Run
12. Rocket Of Love*
*….European version only
Album length: 53.15
