Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Houston
Label: Cargo Records
Release date: 24.11.2017
Running time: 43:15
Rating: 3/5
Hey, Houston are back. Unbelievable. These guys write albums fast. They’re AOR/melodic rock revivalists from the Swedish capital, Stockholm, and in just over seven years they’ve managed to squeeze out a third studio album.
So. “III” once again steers along the tracks laid by its two predecessors, but it gives the general impression of being a touch different at times. In a lot of ways it’s a slightly different album. In fact, in places it flirts more heavily with the rhetoric of eighties pop music than what “I” and “II” brought to the table. Cold As Ice is not a cover of the famous hit by pioneering AOR legends Foreigner, but the opening original song on the new Houston album, with pretty generic lyrics of the kind that are all over the place right through to the end of the record. In AOR it was always in fashion to preach about heartbreak. That’s just how it goes. The album “II” opens in the stylistic mold of both predecessors, but then comes the third track, Dangerous Love, which, funnily enough, channels eighties Roxette, while the ballad Lights Out completely calms down the lively opening stretch, and from there on it’s a dangerously sugary flirtation with eighties pop. The “ringa raja” (pop cuteness) feel only grows stronger from here. To Be You, Glass Houses, Road To Ruin, Twelve-Step are innocent songs that put the pop element on completely equal footing, but this time they come across as more musically hollow than substantial. They’re oversweetened in the melodies this time, and in the vocal lines too.
Houston are making great use of the current absence on the scene of contemporary melodic rock and AOR revivalists like W.E.T. and Work of Art, although W.E.T. are “waking up” again. As for production, “III” delivers yet another example of Scandinavian perfectionism, whether it’s the songwriting, the performance or the sound treatment. Calle Hammar’s guitar solos are a chapter of their own, and the mid-eight passages show off the musicians’ extraordinary technical polish.
This time it feels like we’ve got a softer, more pop-leaning Houston album. So there’s nothing new or undiscovered here, except that “III” drifts a bit stylistically from both of its predecessors. Compared to the previous two albums, “III” is, as said, a little softer and more devoted to chasing pop musicality and a sophisticated balance in the contrasts of the sound, where the guitar doesn’t always take center stage. My feelings are mixed, thanks to the musical “sweetener” that there’s simply too much of at times on the album.
Lineup
Hank Erix – vocals
Calle Hammar – guitar, backing vocals
Victor Lundberg – keyboards, backing vocals
Soufian Ma’Aoui – bass guitar
Oscar Lundström – drums
Production
Martin Karlegård
Track list
1. Cold As Ice
2. Everlasting
3. Dangerous Love
4. Lights Out
5. Amazing
6. To Be You
7. Glass Houses
8. Twelve-Step
9. Road To Ruin
10. Interstate Life
