Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Wigelius
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2012
Runtime: 43:32
Rating: 3.3/5
Wigelius is a new AOR / melodic rock outfit based in Sweden, built around the untapped talents of Anders Wigelius, a young guy barely past 20 who isn’t just a top-notch vocalist but a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter to boot. This »wonder boy« was spotted on a talent show on Swedish national TV by Daniel Flores, the well-known Swedish producer and member of Mind’s Eye, Issa and Murder Of My Sweet. Anders took the win after the judges were blown away by his reinterpretation of the Journey classic Don’t Stop Believing.
Despite his tender age, Anders is no greenhorn in the music business. Before launching his own band, he cut his teeth as the vocalist of Gamblers, a group that played covers of eighties AOR classics. Growing up and maturing on the sounds of acts like Journey, Foreigner, Richard Marx and Toto, among others, left a strong mark on Anders when it came to writing and composing. »Reinventions« is completely saturated with the influences of those bands. Anders clearly knows he’s reheating the same old soup with Wigelius and nothing more, so he partly slipped out of the charge of unoriginality with the very choice of the album’s title. Above all, though, Anders is an excellent vocalist. A vocalist and an artist who is still developing. He justifies his big vocal talent best of all in the ballad Love Can Be That Much.
Never mind that opener Angeline nods in its title to Marx’s mega hit Angelia — the song is a typical representative of the modern approach of Scandinavian musicians trying their hand at melodic rock. The production, the way the synths are woven in, the placement of the hooks in the lead riffs and, of course, that distinctly melodic, clean, authoritative vocal approach of the true Scandinavian school instantly recall bands like Work Of Art, or, on the other side, the modern-day »Scandi melodic rock« veterans Grand Illusion and Bad Habit. »Reinventions« is a proper mix of influences from classic melodic rock acts, shaken up under the sun of Europe’s far north.
The musicians fully grasp the songwriting formula: the basic verse-chorus template (run twice in a row), a middle instrumental section to dramatize the mood, and a final repeat of the chorus. There’s no shortage of fitting guitar solos, and the choruses deliver the bombast in full, slyly dressed up with multi-part vocal harmonies. Wigelius are completely devoted to hunting down catchy melodies that burrow under your skin on the very first listen. So, no songwriting blunders.
The share of generic stuff is big, but you have to cut Anders and company some slack, since this is a bunch of young talents who are still challenging, developing and exploring their artistic, creative selves. The next albums will be decisive in weighing how much is their own thing and how much is just »copying homework«. The debut »Reinventions« is a determined, confident first step and, above all, a credible product in practice. Subtract the generic factor and you’ve got a team of excellent musicians behind it. Still, amid the whole pile of AOR / melodic rock releases that a horde of new-generation Scandinavian bands is sending to market, »Reinventions« is too ordinary and too short on character to leave a lasting impression.
So this one will mostly delight those who have to try absolutely everything the world’s melodic rock scene has to offer today. And those folks won’t be disappointed with »Reinventions«. With it, Wigelius show off serious talents, which, let’s hope, will in the future be paired with a lot less of the mold-following that the key bands and artists of AOR / melodic rock, listed at the start of this review, set in stone.
Line-up
Anders Wigelius – vocals
Jake Svensson – guitar
Chris “Wielbass” Pettersson – bass
Erik Wigelius – drums
Production
Daniel Flores
Track list
1. Angeline
2. Talking About Love
3. Do You Really Know
4. Next To Me
5. My Cassandra
6. Piece Of The Action
7. Too Young To Fall In Love
8. Right Here, Right Now
9. Love Can Be That Much
10. Hold On To Love
11. There Is No Me Without You
12. I Reach Out
