Artist: Hope
Label: Escape Music
Release: 2008
Running time: 38.37
Rating: 3.5/5
Sweden’s Hope are yet another bunch of “oddballs” in the melodic rock field. There are quite a few reasons for the “oddness,” though some of them aren’t new anymore. It’s well known that Swedish hard rockers are very good musicians: schooled, with a feel for melody and atmosphere. They’re seriously strong studio players. They’re usually obsessed with playing covers, so it often happens that they end up backing big rock names on tours around the world (a good example is the well-known link between members of Europe and Glenn Hughes in the mid-nineties). A lot of this applies to the members of Hope, who are musicians with rich studio experience. And why are they “oddballs”?
The whole album “All Of My Days” feels like it was written by Bryan Adams in his most rock ‘n’ roll days. So, a leap back to the eighties and Bryan Adams. The songs are classic melodic hard rock, very positively oriented, which can work on you as an excellent pick-me-up on days of depression and extra cloud cover and fog (I’d recommend the album as a mandatory magic potion especially for people living in the Ljubljana basin). Of course, you shouldn’t dig into the lyrics, because they come across as almost naively well-meaning, stringing together pretty things and planting spotless little flowers of real life. Really odd for a Scandinavian band.
The first factor is the vocals of Henrik Thomsen, who, with his huskiness, his timbre, his basic range and the way he finishes (shapes) his lines, recalls Bryan Adams. Of course, this isn’t Bryan Adams, but the feeling of constantly associating him with Henrik doesn’t fade for a single moment while listening to this album.
That the band obviously worships the Canadian artist is proven by Mats Johansson’s guitar work, since the tricks in the solos make it clear that this guy, much like Henrik, is a huge fan of classic Bryan Adams. These tricks tend to pull hard toward the tricks of Adams’ guitarist, who left the biggest mark on his music. So we’re back in the period of Adams’ strongest expression, the eighties, and the name to thank for inspiration this time is Keith Scott.
The opening I Want You, a lively, upbeat, sped-up little melodic rock flower, immediately brings the Canadian rocker to mind. Why Don’t We Talk About It is a ballad that keeps this trend (even in the wordplay in the verses) intact across the album. It may be surprising why a ballad is placed right after the bouncy start of the album. All Of My Days doesn’t blow that feeling out either. Hope are also masters of showcasing highly melodic seductiveness, which spreads out most beautifully, no holds barred, on the ballad Bring Down The Tears, where the band shows off a talent for magnifying emotions through a sophisticated approach. The band confirms this strength even more decisively later in the album with its strongest ballad-leaning moment, Come Alive. One of the album’s more expressive moments is in the witty basic riff that drives See the Sign, definitely (it’s among the album’s more bouncy moments). You Could Be Mine and Baby Don’t Cry are downright sweet in their triviality, and in the eighties they’d probably have had quite a few solid reasons for heavy rotation on the radio. That’s roughly how things run on “All Of My Days.” Right through to the end of the album, too. Bryan Adams should hear this thing.
Considering that bands like this aren’t exactly sprouting up like leaves and grass on this planet, Hope are completely unobtrusive. More than that. With their debut they can actually be very soothing for everyone who can’t come to terms with Bryan Adams’ recent work and is piously waiting for his new “Reckless” album. Well, “All Of My Days” manages to revive some of that precious energy in place of today’s Bryan. So everyone who gets fired up by a simple, downright bizarrely simple melodic rock figure, and first and foremost fans of classic Adams, has to check this thing out. It’s precisely in that rationality that its greatest strength lies. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the band’s musical direction going forward. Another album that smells so strongly of Adams again isn’t advisable for the band, since in that case “All Of My Days” already tells the whole Hope story right from the start.
Lineup
Henrik Thomsen – vocals, bass guitar
Mats Johanson – guitar
Imre Daun – drums
Production
Hope
Track list
1. I Want You
2. Why Don’t We Talk About It
3. All Of My Days
4. Bring Down The Stars
5. You Could Be Mine
6. See The Sign
7. Come Alive
8. I’m Free
9. Somebody
10. Baby Don’t Cry
11. Saving All My Love
