Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Niva
Label: AOR Heaven Records
Release: 2013
Running time: 39:44
Rating: 4.5/5
This excellent AOR release has been out for a while now, a pure-blooded Scandinavian take on the art of songwriting. Yep. Rock music that sits closest to the Eurosong frequency. »ABBA on distortion«. The pitch isn’t nearly as daft as it sounds at first. Scandinavian perfectionism, what can you do. Up there they’ve always known how to lay a melody into a chorus so it hits maximum bombast and »buys« the listener’s ears on the very first spin.
Tony Niva is a seasoned Swedish vocalist with a phenomenal feel for the aesthetics of a song’s lead melody. Above all, he shines as a killer arranger. The man honed his vocals in a nice stack of older Swedish AOR/hard rock outfits before launching Niva. Those bands, which can boast excellent catalogs but always had to face the fact of being shoved into the eternal curse of the musical »underground«, are Axia, Swedish Erotica, Lion’s Share and Zanity. The guy has been musically active since 1987, and the first Niva album came out in 1994 under the title »No Capitulation« (with Europe’s Ian Haugland on drums). It was released only for the Japanese market, just like its follow-up »Gold From The Future«. Seventeen years later. Pardon? Yep, true story. That one, though, got released once more, this time for the European market. And that was last year. Under the name »Final Warning«. Even with 17 years between the two albums, both stand for the absolute artistic brilliance of the Scandinavian melodic hard rock school. Fans of the »skandi school« of melodic rock simply couldn’t wish for more beautiful releases.
Clearly Tony realized that reactivating the band two years ago wasn’t in vain and that the times up north are once again friendlier to the staples of melodic hard rock and AOR. With a few rotations in the Niva lineup and a freshened-up crew, bringing in seasoned guitarist Roger Ljunggren (ex-Grand illusion) and keyboardist Marcus Persson, Tony set out toward a new triumph. »Magnitude« really is a work that comes close to perfection in musical artistry. You won’t find this much listenability, hitting you instantly with grabby chorus hooks, on your average AOR album. »Magnitude« is a gem trapped in an eighties time machine. It’s almost impossible to follow the footsteps of eighties AOR heritage more faithfully than this record does. As long as the man keeps managing to write ballads as strong as In A Misty Light or, especially, the closer I Feel So Alone, Niva albums will stay first-rate proof of flawless artistic brilliance. The only minus on this album is the striking similarity of the lead phrases in Perfect Life, Always Somewhere and Do It Again, which leads to the unpleasant conclusion of »badly packaged self-plagiarism«. Still, the songs veer off in their own direction in the choruses, even though the verse guitar phrase is poisonously similar in all three. Otherwise, zero complaints about everything else »Magnitude« has to offer.
This is a work of exquisite, polished artistic perfection that hits hard in the vein of the Scandinavian perfectionism left behind by Bad Habit, Grand Illusion, Crystal Blue and Dreamhunter, or flirts with the songwriting approach of newer bands like Elevener, Last Autumn’s Dream, Eclipse, even Work Of Art. In short. If you’re a fan of the tried-and-true perfectionism of the Scandinavian school of AOR/hard rock, this is an album tailor-made for you. The songs have outstanding compositional character, they don’t ramble, they get to the point fast, and it’s crystal clear to Tony Niva the whole way through that the climax of a gradually building atmosphere has to be aimed at a bombastic chorus hook. Tony and company pull that off in the best possible way. Considering that two years passed between its predecessor »Final Warnig« and the new »Magnitude«, it’s fascinating how Tony Niva managed to hang on to that huge creative spark and carry it over, untarnished, to the new studio album. Let’s hope he keeps up that tradition going forward, because this record unmistakably proves the musician is enjoying a new artistic bloom.
Lineup
Tony Niva – vocals
Roger Ljunggren – guitar
Marcus Persson – keyboards, backing vocals
Jan Stål – bass
Tomas Persic – drums
Production
Roger Ljunggren
Tracklist
1. Never Too Late
2. Perfect Life
3. My First And Only One
4. Just Another Heartache
5. In A Misty Light
6. Always Somewhere
7. Let It Shine
8. Spanish Lullaby
9. Do It Again
10. Never Say Goodbye
11. I Feel So Alone
