Label: Frontiers Music Srl.
Release date: 14. 10. 2022
Production: Eric Modin
Album length: 47.44 min
Genre: Melodic Rock / AOR Revival
Rating: 9.0/10
Wildness are Scandinavian AOR/melodic rock revivalists who dropped a great second studio album, “Ultimate Demise”, at the end of October 2020. On it they tightened the ranks with a new singer, Erik Forsberg, who clicked fantastically with their songwriting talent and, not least, with the vibe of the musical aesthetic that the melodic rock revival chases, the kind that in the eighties went after the ultimate love from radio airwaves.
Moving over to the Italian label Frontiers Music Srl. is one more confirmation that this is an exceptionally high-quality band. And “Resurrection” confirms it by a mile. It’s not just a worthy successor to the excellent “Ultimate Demise” – in the way it shapes the hunger of the songs and builds the pomp theatrics that AOR simply has to come with, it’s in places even more convincing. This time the songs that belong squarely on long night drives down streets that were neon-lit ages ago literally steal the spotlight. With choruses of outstanding musical seduction and swagger. The first six tracks are a superb, hypnotic musical assault that serves up a string of polished hooks. The opener Nightmare, then Release the Beast, or the great single Tragedy at number 3. One after another, they keep the album at a high atmospheric level. But you’ve got to be an ‘AOR freak’. Only the seventh track is a ballad (Lonely Girl). Special mention goes to Down Of Forever, which stands out on the album. It’s a great calm spot with a touch of mysticism and longing, and of course a ‘thick slab’ of melancholy you could cut with a knife. After it, the album closes at an outstanding, high-octane level of phrasing with the catchy Eternity Will Never Fall, which doesn’t hide its generous flirtation with heavy metal elements.
Even though the synth curtains rustle with that typical imitation of eighties sonic traits, and the band skillfully backs up the lead vocal with harmonies, which is a must for any good AOR/melodic rock album, Wildness are a two-guitar band. Production is production. In the studio you can hide or highlight plenty, but the band definitely doesn’t skimp on firing off decibels of distorted sound. Just with a measured production that can’t stand ‘raw’ forcing of the guitars into the foreground. The imitation of the eighties sound is deftly woven into modern studio-polishing techniques.
So the compositions hit even harder than on the predecessor, and “Resurrection”, the band’s third studio album, is to date certainly their most distinguished and mature achievement in terms of artistic conviction. The band has definitely studied Journey and the classic look and work of other West Coast AOR acts of the eighties, even if their Scandinavian recycling logic puts them right next to their current-day countrymen like Palace, H.E.A.T., Arctic Rain, Perfect Plan, and Eclipse, among others. A hugely exciting third album from Wildness, who, with somewhat less advertising ‘pomp’, have managed to claim a spot that takes them more and more into the central bands of today’s reheating of the old AOR days of the eighties. We’re talking about the best of the best. “Resurrection” is a definitive ticket to that kind of status and one of the most convincing achievements in the field of AOR revivalism in 2022.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Nightmare
2. Release The Beast
3. Tragedy
4. Love Resurrection
5. Best Of Me
6. The Final Fantasy
7. Lonely Girl
8. The One And Only
9. Fading Sun
10. Dawn Of Forever
11. Eternity Will Never Fall
Lineup:
Erik Forsberg – vocals
Marcus Sjösund – bass guitar
Adam Holmström – guitar
Pontus Sköld – guitar
Erik Modin – drums
Backing vocals:
Danny Rexon, Hank Erix, Ludvig Turner, Dani Hart
