Label: Frontiers Music Srl.
Release date: October 8, 2021
Production: Ricky Delin
Album length: 48.15 min
Genre: AOR revival
Rating: 9.0/10
They take their sweet time between records, but when the albums land, the quality is top-notch. Here’s the fourth studio album from yet another flawless Scandinavian act reviving eighties AOR: Sweden’s Houston, from Stockholm. Their self-titled debut in 2010 already shook up the world of melodic rock and AOR revivalism, and Classic Rock magazine put them at number one on its list of the best AOR albums of 2010. That strong debut got Houston noticed fast, and it opened the doors to the biggest European festival stages, while they spent the fall of that year on a joint UK tour, taken along by their fellow countrymen Crashdiet.
Danny MacAskill, the extreme BMX rider and Red Bull team athlete, also helped build up the band’s name. He used their track Runaway, from the second Houston album »II«, as the soundtrack for one of his extreme videos, »Imaginate«, which has racked up almost 100 million views on YouTube alone to date.
The intro is a bit longer than usual, considering that AOR was never popular in Slovenia the way it was in the West and North America. Still, if you know this band and you’re reading these lines, I bow to you. Especially if you’re Slovenian. To cut it short: you don’t joke around with Houston. Whatever they put out carries exceptional expressive quality and sonic perfection.
This time, too, we waited a solid four years for the band to follow up »III« with fresh new original music. And the really important part is that former member Ricky Delin rejoined Houston for the new album. Not as a full member, mind you, but he helped write the songs and also took on the role of producer.
With him on board, the band truly wanted to make an authentic connection with the golden days of the eighties, when AOR was in full bloom. Just think of the hits by Journey, Foreigner, Survivor (check out Heart of the Warrior in particular), Richard Marx, John Farnham, Stan Bush, Rick Springfield, etc…. »IV« is quite possibly the most hair-splittingly polished album of top-shelf AOR revivalism the band has made so far. »III«, let’s be honest, delivered fewer thrills, and the band drifted stylistically from the first two albums, even if it kept its orthodox melodic rock outlook. With »IV«, Houston haven’t just reconnected with the first two records, they’ve outgrown them in maturity. Compositions this brilliantly crafted and packaged, so ultra-musical and infectious, bursting with pomp and bombast from the inside out, are something even genius composers of the caliber of Jeff Lynne (ELO) and Alan Parsons (Alan Parsons Project) would gladly lend an ear to.
A good 48 minutes of music across eleven tracks, made for long night drives where your only companions are a pounding heart and the glow of neon light bouncing off the billboards of giant high-rises and skyscrapers. But that was the eighties. Not around here, of course. Unbelievable. Slipping back into those carefree, upbeat, sunny eighties is effortless when you spin »IV«. Instantly. In your mind, of course. In reawakened feelings, emotions, nostalgia. And the songs? They keep stealing the spotlight from each other. Just when you think you’ve found the album’s focal point, the next one comes along and snatches the crown. The choruses are razor-sharp and superbly dressed up, and they grab you right away. Pick your own favorites. The author of this review would pick Storyteller.
So. Basically, »IV« doesn’t say anything new. Not in terms of development, anyway, but what’s fascinating is that nobody writes this kind of music anymore, nor uses these production tricks. Everything is in its place. The balance between the rustling synth pastels of strict eighties sonic aesthetics and the guitar phrasing is there. Songs backed up in all the right spots with multiple vocal harmonies. Juicy guitar solos garnish the fluidly built mid-eight passages. Hank Erix’s vocals sound tailor-made for this style of songwriting. The album bursts at the seams with drama and theatrics. The peaks of mood are caught in the chorus melodies. A true “AOR enlightened one” wants nothing more. So, as far as the pioneers go, as long as they’ve still got the moves, we surely can’t expect an album like this from them in 2021. But a whole bunch of excellent imitators have jumped into that spot of “reheating musical archaisms,” especially from Scandinavia, and with the new »IV«, Houston confirm that with this doctrine of imitation they belong at the very top of the current AOR revival. »IV« is an album AOR devotees will idolize for years to come.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
1. She Is The Night
2. You’re Still The Woman
3. Hero
4. A Lifetime In A Moment
5. Heartbreaker
6. Storyteller
7. Heart Of A Warrior
8. Until The Morning Comes
9. I Will Not Give In To Despair
10. Such Is Love
11. Into Thin Air
Line-up:
Hank Erix – vocals
Carl Hammar – guitar
Soufian Ma’Aoui – bass
Richard Hamilton – keyboards
Oscar Lundström – drums
