Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Groundbreaker
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2018
Running time: 43:58
Rating: 4/5
Gotta hand it to him. One of the most distinctive vocalists the eighties ever gave us, a voice whose charisma and expressiveness laid some of the key foundations of AOR and its popularization back in the day, is stepping up with a new album again this year. Not one, but two. That’s Steve Overland, singer of the legendary British AOR heavyweights FM, with whom he also put out a new studio album this year, but that’s not all. Some time ago he joined forces with the outstanding Swedish multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer Robert Sall (Work Of Art, W.E.T.). That’s how the Groundbreaker project came to be, and it managed to release its self-titled debut in the very same year. Of course, behind this project there’s plenty of appetite, plus the plain enthusiasm of the Italian label Frotntiers Records, which is to »blame« for this new but unbelievably appealing »melodic rock« (retro AOR) spectacle.
Anyone who knows FM, the Shadowman project or Overland’s solo career, and is at home with the »Scandinavian school« of AOR revivalism (Work Of Art, Houston), knows exactly what to expect from »Grondbreaker«. Steve is a singer who never steps out of his own skin, not even by a millimeter. He’s got that incredible soulful, poppy smoothness that has always been one of the key ingredients defining the strong artistic identity of every album he’s sung on, FM’s studio records included. That means Robert Sall, who handled most of the songwriting (with Overland and Frontiers’ go-to guy Alessandro Del Vecchio not exactly sitting on their hands either), poured the ideas that might have gone into the next Work Of Art album into Groundbreaker instead. Yep. The easiest way to describe »Groundbreaker« is as a Work Of Art-style album, just with the FM singer on vocals.
»Groundbreaker« are, then, remarkably easygoing when it comes to retro AOR rhetoric. The song arrangements sit closest to Work of Art, to eighties FM and to the Shadowman project, though the guitars aren’t as »sharpened« as on W.E.T., let alone Eclipse. »Groundbreaker« is an extremely skillfully written album. Or really, extremely skillfully »rewritten« and repackaged. Flawlessly recycled. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel and it doesn’t bring originality, but it stands incredibly credibly behind everything it offers. From the brilliant production, the ultra-melodic catchiness and the seductive, high-vibrating atmospheres that peak in singalong choruses, to cleverly slipped-in key changes and polished mid-eight passages. The curtains of synths sound pure eighties, their dialogue with the guitar is masterfully »balanced« and effectively (contrastingly) colors the songs. The vocal lines are subtly harmonized with mid-pitched choir parts. Everything a proper retro-sounding AOR album needs in this day and age. There are eleven songs on the album, and there’s no noticeable dip in quality among them; they stand shoulder to shoulder on equal footing. You’ll find your favorites yourself.
Like I said. An exemplary and likable album with a true retro AOR sound, though it’ll reach only a narrow niche of melodic rock fans, which means that when we talk about this genre today, we’re really entering the »underground« of rock’n’roll. The »surviving« fans of the grand pop aesthetic in rock’n’roll will definitely check it out too, that is, the AOR pioneering of bands led by Journey, Boston, Foreigner, Asia, Survivor and/or Night Ranger.
Lineup
Steve Overland – vocals
Robert Sall – guitar
Nalley Pahlsson – bass
Herman Furin – drums
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Alessandro Del Vecchio – keyboards
Production
Alessandro Del Vecchio
Tracklist
1. Over My Shoulder
2. Will It Make You Love Me
3. Eighteen ‘Til I Die
4. Only Time Will Tell
5. Tonight
6. Standing Up For Love
7. Something Worth Fighting For
8. The Sound Of A Broken Heart
9. The First Time
10. The Days Of Our Life
11. The Way It Goes
