Label: RN Records
Release date: 15. 5. 2020
Production: Thomas “Plec” Johansson
Album length: 53.04 min
Genre: Melodic Rock
Rating: 8.0/10
Gathering Of Kings! Damn, that really sounds over the top. Just like everything the music critics of the eighties lumped under the label of a new genre they dubbed Adult Oriented Rock sounded »over the top«. In other words, rock that wanted to be friendly to radio frequencies. And it pulled it off. The genre seriously shook up the top of the charts back then, spawned a pile of big names as well as cult and unforgettable albums, and today it »lives on« through the birth of ever more bands who draw their artistry from the eighties AOR »phenomenon«.
Gathering Of Kings, the new pompous, all-Swedish gathering of kings, teases fans of Electric Light Orchestra too, since they picked the same title for their second album as the cult ELO record from 1979. Luckily, the stylistic gap is huge. The band also teases everyone who knows Roger Dean’s paintings well, meaning listeners who are familiar with, among others, Uriah Heep, Gun, Asia and Yes. Speaking of Yes, the style of the »Discovery« cover, created by German artist Markus Vesper, recalls Dean’s covers for both (live) »Keys to Ascension« albums.
The remarks in the previous paragraph aren’t a mandatory part of this review, since musically Gathering Of Kings are standard-bearers of melodic rock revivalism. Gathering Of Kings started out as a project, which debuted two years ago with the album »First Mission«. More than a solid first record, and one that was very well received by critics and the public alike. So why a gathering of kings? At heart, this is a band. A classic quintet, but with several lead vocalists. The new album also features a bunch of special guests. On top of that, Gathering Of Kings are always open to bringing in different instrumentalists who can add their bit to their albums. Apparently the only requirement is that you’re a Swedish citizen. The names involved don’t cause any seismic shocks as far as standing out goes, but they’re guys who normally play in their home bands somewhere between power metal and hard rock, so you can feel noticeable swerves in the arrangements, now toward one genre, now toward the other.
Gathering Of Kings aren’t inventing a »musical Einstein«. They’re an interesting musical hybrid that also plays to the “Eurovision” crowd, but backed by pointed guitar riffing and a pompous rustle of layered synths. The choruses are instantly memorable, and the songs build atmospheric pomp up to mood-lifting crescendos at those moments.
This carefully arranged album soars high on the wings of full-blown bombast, as the infectious uptempo tracks of its opening stretch line up one after another. But they mostly deliver very predictable choruses that, musically and across rock history, have been heard and tested many times before. What’s more, at least two choruses among the first four tracks would work perfectly well in power metal marches by bands like Mob Rules or Freedom Call. But the sound production levers are of a completely different nature, with the keyboards playing a very important role. Given that quite a few tracks are cliché-tinged and sound generic (the choruses of December or Fall From Grace), The One That Got Away brings a milder sonic moment that, with its ballad bent and the vocal character of Tobias Jansson, is fleetingly chanson-tinged and offers a welcome detour. Generally, the second half of the album brings a bit more deft slaloming while recycling the well-known musical stuff of the eighties, and the choruses of Highway To Paradise, Moonlight, Lorelei, Kiss From Above and From a Whisper to a Scream hold up well against the clichés. And by the way: this album, too, is too long by (at least) two songs.
The multiple vocalists deliver the welcome and necessary variety in building the atmosphere of individual songs, which the predictable composing recipe for this kind of music desperately needs. For anyone who knows modern power metal, hard rock, or melodic rock acts, the participating vocalists are very highly regarded. Beyond the great songwriting talents of the band’s two main visionaries, vocalist Victor Olsson and multi-instrumentalist Alexander Frisborg – the latter, apart from the drums, played all the guitars, keyboards and the lion’s share of the bass lines himself – what steps to the front is ultra-infectious musicality generated by the central role of the vocalists. Needless to say, the lead vocals are deftly backed with extra vocal harmonies, which deepens the grabbiness of the drama-theater, or rather the pomp, of the whole product.
Gathering Of Kings will appeal to fans of the Scandinavian sound and approach in melodic rock revivalism, as heard among others in local bands like H.E.A.T. or Eclipse, or in the legacy that combines musical elements inherited from Abba with west coast AOR principles (Survivor). The album is also permeated by compositions backed with pointed guitar phrasing that doesn’t skimp on top-notch solo seasoning in mid-eight passages. That’s why »Discovery« could appeal to fans of European power metal too.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
01. Starsleeper
02. Riders Of The Light
03. Heaven On The Run
04. December
05. Highway To Paradise
06. The One That Got Away
07. Lorelei
08. Moonlight
09. Revelation
10. Kiss From Above
11. From A Whisper To A Scream
12. Final Hour
Line-up:
Rick Altzi – vocals (3,12), backing vocals
Jonny Lindkvist – vocals (4,8)
Apollo Papathanasio – vocals (2,9), backing vocals
Tobias Jansson – vocals (6,7,11), backing vocals
Alexander Frisborg – vocals (5,10), backing vocals
Victor Olsson – guitar, bass, keyboards, backing vocals
Efraim Larsson – drums (2-8)
Jonas Källsbäck – drums (9-12)
Guest musicians:
Nalle Påhlsson – bass (3,8)
Joel Selsfors – keyboard solo (12)
Erik Gafvelin Wiss – keyboard solo (7)
Henrik Sethsson – backing vocals (10)
Theresia Svensson – backing vocals (6,7,10)
Ron Dahlgren – backing vocals (10)
Mathias Kihlberg – flute (9)
