Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Angelica
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2013
Length: 49:59
Rating: 3/5
»Thrive« is the debut studio album from Swedish vocalist Angelica Rylin! »A bubbly, charming vocal princess« in whom the top brass at Frontiers Records spotted the next potential commercial hit, and so offered her the chance to try her luck as a solo artist. Most of the sound, polished arrangements included, was handled for her debut by her Murder Of My Pride partner Daniel Flores, a seasoned Swedish musician known as a multi-instrumentalist, producer, arranger and composer, and the guy also has a nice studio album from his Find Me project in his pocket this year, titled »Wing s Of Love«. Besides Flores, ideas for »Thrive« came from Harry Hess (frontman of Canadian melodic rock legends Harem Scarem), Swedish music workaholic Robert Sall (Work Of Art), seasoned Italian musician and producer Alessandro Del Vecchio (Hardline) and Anders Wigelius (vocalist of his own project called Wigelius). Angelica herself also showed some songwriting smarts on »Thrive«, tossing a few of her own compositional brainwaves into the mix.
This album is dressed to the nines, head to toe. The songs stand tall! The lineup of contributing musicians is simply so strong and so battle-hardened at songwriting that a record coming out of the studio from a crew like that can’t possibly be bad. The sound production is brilliant.
Angelica already proved with her contributions to the Murder Of My Pride albums that she’s a talented young singer who fits the basic melodic rock songwriting mold like a glove. »Thrive« keeps that going in a full-blooded dose. Angelica has a polished, clean voice that dictates the expressive power of the melody, and it amps up the predatory punch of instantly memorable, infectious choruses. »Thrive« offers a varied set of songs, with the focus on mid-tempo. Angelica doesn’t hold back on the emotion here. She gives it her all and in places it comes across convincingly, which is good, since the album’s compositions are all written in the typical melodic rock and AOR mold, following the Scandinavian-school approach. A few famous names from metal and rock also guest with solos, including Jesper Stromblad (In Flames), Magns Karlsson (Primal Fear), Per Berquist (Smash Into Pieces) and the in-demand producer Mats Lindfors, while Matt Guillory, who otherwise plays in the backing band of Dream Theater singer James LaBrie, added keyboards as a special guest.
For all the surplus of musical talent crammed onto this album, it’s clear that it would have stood just fine in terms of credibility with two songs fewer. You can’t always dodge the occasional feeling of genericness. That’s just a fact. The album also lacks any real flashes of creative inspiration that would deliver any kind of artistic breakthrough or bring a sense of originality and fresh expression. Sadly, that’s not here. This Kiss Is Just For You is a typical time-killer, and in the ballad Can’t Stop Love, you can’t miss Angelica’s wish to get, even for a moment, close to the famous vocal moment of Ann Wilson (Heart). In Losers In Paradise, the opening structure of the track is close to the intro of Robin Beck’s evergreen hit First Time. That naivety from Angelica is hard to overlook on »Thrive«, and it takes a little bit of credibility away from the record.
The album has an optimistic vibe! A few moments really nail that classic AOR pomp-drama aesthetic, like the choruses of Rain On My Parade, Take Me To Your Heart, To Your Rescue or I’m Not Waiting, but otherwise the album knows no creative songwriting highs. »Thrive« is a very predictable album and therefore aimed at a narrow circle of listeners. It’s a nice start for Angelica, but the question is whether it’s worth the singer sticking to a template where you can’t escape the weight of associations stirred up by the unbeatable evergreen quality of the pioneering works of visionary bands that lifted AOR and melodic rock up through the eighties with their classic studio albums. Anyway, it’s worth a spin for everyone who’s head over heels for the Scandinavian mindset when it comes to making AOR music. You can’t go wrong with »Thrive«, and Angelica’s sweetly seductive vocals will of course caress your ears the whole way through, though for now, in the role of solo artist, she unfortunately still lacks a bit more vocal charisma to fully win you over.
Lineup
Angelica Rylin – vocals, backing vocals
Per Bergquist – guitar, guitar solo on track no. 3
Daniel Flores – drums, keyboards, backing vocals
Johan Niemann – bass guitar
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Matt Guillory – keyboard solo on track no. 12
Jesper Stromblad – guitar solo on track no. 2
Magnus Karlsson – guitar solo on track no. 1
Mats Lindfors – guitar solo on tracks no. 4 and 5
Anders Wigelius – backing vocals
Production
Daniel Flores
Track list
1. Breaking My Heart
2. I Am Strong
3. To Your Rescue
4. Can’t Stop Love
5. Nothing Else You Can Break
6. Riding Out The Storm
7. Rain On My Parade
8. Losers In Paradise
9. You Will Never Win
10. This Kiss Is Just For You
11. I’m Not Waiting
12. Take Me To Your Heart
