Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: 220 Volt
Label: AOR Heaven Records
Released: 2014
Length: 59:28
Rating: 4.5/5
The Swedish hard rock veterans 220 Volt, gentlemen who can claim the same pedigree as kindred bands like Europe, Easy Action, Renegade, Torch, Oz, Aphrodite and/or Treat, to name just a handful of the acts that shaped the remarkably colorful, high-quality invasion of Scandinavian hard rock bands in the eighties, are back on the scene after many dry years with a comeback album whose title hints that the guys have walked through the fire of purification, chased off all their inner demons and found inner peace. The album »Waliking in Starlight« is exactly what you’d expect from a quartet of veterans, now made up of three original members from the debut »220 Volt« (1983), namely guitarists Thomas Drevin and Mats Karlsson and drummer Peter Hermansson, rounded out by freshly baked member and vocalist Anders Engberg. The funny thing about the album’s promo texts is that nowhere do they say who played the bass or added the keyboards. Most likely the two guitarists took care of it, since the bass lines are decidedly audible in the album’s production picture.
That the legends are kicking again and showing signs of life was announced back in 2013 by the digital single for One Good Reason, while in the stretch right before the album’s release the band put out a video for the title track, the superb opener Walking in Starlight, a dark, mid-tempo, atmospheric number.
It isn’t hard to conclude, from the first bars onward, that this is a superb album on which 220 Volt keep a sensible link to the natural evolution of their eighties legacy, even though a solid 17 years have passed since the previous album »Lethal Illusion«. »Walking in Starlight« sums up the signature moves of this fine hard rock outfit’s eighties heyday and translates them into the musical philosophy of a new era. The same goes for the production, which isn’t overcooked in the slightest but keeps a wonderfully organic, lively and beefy sound, as if the band were playing on a concert stage while recording. The album is an imprint of the members’ growing up on the sounds of bands like Rainbow, Deep Purple, Whitesnake too, Thin Lizzy and Led Zeppelin (the »Kashmir-style« exit of The Waiting). In a decidedly pompous picture of melodic catchiness, 220 Volt carry a veil of the blues school that actually gave rise to the rock pioneers cited above. It’s an element you’ll find in a big-hearted, palpable dose with Europe and Treat as well. And that veil of blues is cunningly weighed down with melodic, neoclassical forms from the band members, which the track Blind shows off in an excellent fusion of both approaches.
The 13 tracks carry the band’s recognizable musical engraving: crafted lead motifs, flowing arrangements with atmospheric peaks in the chorus melodies, and the relived, soulful singing of the excellent new vocalist Anders Engberg, whose mildly raspy timbre pairs beautifully with the lively, organically glowing sonic exposé of the production. The band keeps the songs dynamic by swinging the moods inside tracks with programmed samples and keyboards (Broken Promises). There’s also no need to point out the filigree craftsmanship of the mid-eight passages, with the devilish wizardry of both guitarists’ solo improvisations. Considering the band needed a solid 17 years to deliver a new studio album, it’s fascinating how fresh, heartfelt and compositionally clear-cut the album is in its ideas, a product of big pomp drama theater that shows the quartet’s rediscovered glow and creative bubbling. The songs have a predatory, hymn-like quality, skillfully balanced with the organic, live color of the production, an optimally condensed and well-used sonic picture where the guitar often deliberately resorts to heavy-handed wah-wah use (the superb anthem Alive, which thanks to its outstanding chorus might soon grow into a concert favorite among the band’s fans).
Let’s not waste extra lines. There have been enough superlatives. »Walking in Starligh« is an excellent new studio album from the legendary Scandinavian hard rock outfit, and 220 Volt can be more than proud of it. Let’s hope it brings the band back »in the biggest possible dose« to European concert stages, all the way to Bavaria, which would let the odd »surviving« Slovenian nostalgic for the Scandinavian hard rock school catch their shows too. Given the creativity the Swedish hard rock wizards have shown, let’s hope that glow is kept up and carried over as soon as possible to a new studio successor to the superb »Walking in Starlight«, because in this respect 220 Volt remain big debtors to fans of the Scandinavian hard rock school.
Lineup
Thomas Drevin – guitar
Mats Karlsson – guitar
Peter Hermansson – drums
Anders Engberg – vocals
Production
220 Volt
Track list
1. Walking In Starlight
2. System Overload
3. Broken Promises
4. Alive
5. Blind
6. Stranded
7. Get Me Out
8. The Waiting
9. Through The Wastelands
10. Burning Heart
11. Take A Good Look
12. One Good Reason
13. Guiding Light
