Label: Frontiers Music Srl.
Release date: September 4, 2020
Production: Perfect Plan
Album length: 55.19 min
Genre: AOR
Rating: 9.0/10
One thing’s clear: AOR isn’t going anywhere. It’s an archaic genre that’s been shoved underground and hasn’t evolved in years, yet all over the world a hardcore crew of fans and supporters follows it loyally at every turn. Perfect Plan are one more offshoot of the Scandinavian AOR revival scene, which can boast a rich legacy and a tradition of producing some unforgettable acts and albums. With their 2018 debut, “All Rise,” the band already kicked up plenty of dust, since that year it counted as one of the boldest achievements in the modern melodic rock scene and in warming up the time-honored goods of AOR.
This year, Perfect Plan have served up “Time for a Miracle.” Not time for a change, but time for a miracle. Things in the everyday life of the new millennium have gone so far down the road of absurdity, the kind that only boundless human depravity can produce, that only a miracle can save us now. Given its more-than-bold predecessor, the new album is set up even more ambitiously. It clocks in at a full 55 minutes of music and twelve fresh songs, which the band polished to sonic and compositional perfection in just two years.
The main engine of the band is definitely vocalist Kent Hilli, with one of the more striking voices to sprout up in melodic rock over the last few years. He’s got incredible power and punch, and he pulls it off nicely when he tightens up his vocal cords and adds a throaty edge to the color, while working a pleasing range across the octaves and delivering a high musical payoff with a dominant voice. No need to point out that vocal characteristics like these are in great demand for chorus melodies, which, of course, take the lead on the album.
The band has incredible chemistry. Coherence. Especially in the songwriting, which is honed to the max. Almost too much, as the songs sag under their running times, which range from four and a half minutes to well past five. It’s a very richly “stocked” album.
The album opens grandly and dramatically. But in the style of a theater of melancholy that, in terms of songwriting and vibe, recalls the approach of compatriots Treat. That’s the title track, in which Hilli, with his vocal intensity, builds a sense of anguish and great disappointment. Perfect Plan owe quite a bit of thanks for inspiration to the achievements of the west-coast AOR approach. Survivor and/or Foreigner (Living On the Run) come to mind sooner than Journey. The fourth track, Figthing To Win, reaches the scale of a chanson in terms of composition, and could have been written by Jim Peterik or Peter Cetera and adopted by Pride of Lions for one of their albums. Thanks to the use of those classic eighties synth soundscapes, which keep watch over the charismatic, striking ride of the guitar phrasing across the album, it’ll please fans of other revival acts from the Scandinavian corner, such as W.E.T., Work of Art and/or Eclipse. The lyrics, of course, mostly touch on man-woman relationships and bleeding hearts, which is the basic AOR theme, but the top spot for polished songwriting – when it comes to linking verse to chorus – goes to What About Love.
In fact, the band makes up very well for the potential drift into cliché and generic territory with a passionate, top-notch performance of the material, and with the production too. Especially thanks to Kent Hilli’s excellent and flexibly variable vocal range, as well as the hugely appealing and fluid guitar solos, which boost the theatrical unfolding of the songs. The album really has just one flaw. There are too many tracks on it. At least two are redundant and maybe all of them are a hair too long. Some chorus repetitions feel unnecessary. Of course, that’s a reflection of the extraordinary commitment, dedication and devotion, and the pursuit of perfectionism, meant to deliver the maximum payoff of musical and rock hunger. That kind of bubbling energy accompanied the album’s whole making.
Like I said. The album is very good. In the AOR revival world, it’s one of the better and more convincing ones released this year. Still, at times it gives a feeling of excess and too much detail, but then again, it’s down to each listener’s ears to decide what appeals to them and what doesn’t. Bottom line: Perfect Plan have taken another compact step, measured virtuously upward in artistic terms, and one thing is certain. They haven’t reached their artistic zenith yet, so we can keep looking forward to future releases from one of the hottest new bands currently under the wing of Frontiers Music Srl.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
01. Time For A Miracle
02. Better Walk Alone
03. Heart To Stone
04. Fighting To Win
05. Everytime We Cry
06. What About Love
07. Nobody’s Fool
08. Living On The Run
09. Just One Wish
10. Dont Blame It On Love Again
11. Give A Little Lovin’
12. Don’t Leave Me Here Alone
Line-up:
Kent Hilli – vocals
Rolf Nordström – guitar
Leif Ehlin – keyboards
Mats Byström – bass
Fredrik Forsberg – drums
