Released by: AOR Heaven
Release Date: Out Now!!!
Genre: AOR/Melodic Rock
Links: http://www.higherground.nu/
Line Up:
Niklas Hammarberg
Peter Lindberg
Petter Eriksson
Ulf Merkell
Erik Pettersson
Tracklist:
1. Fate
2. Missing You
3. Glory
4. Supernatural
5. Again
6. Remember Me
7. Waste of Time
8. Tightrope
9. Favorite Friend
Pure AOR is really hard to find these days, because most bands in this genre are actually Melodic Rock or Hard Rock based. Here and there we do have exceptions and especially in Sweden a lot of pure AOR bands are active, but not all of them are interesting enough to check out. HIGHER GROUND is definitely a band you urgently need to hear if you call yourself an AOR fan, because their new album ‘Gravity’ is a very decent high quality record that does reflect the AOR sound the way we want to hear it. This is well-thought AOR for the Adults, so no wimpy cheesy AOR by the numbers here, but more in a TOTO style like only the Swedish acts can deliver. There’s similarities to RADIOACTIVE, FERGIE FREDERIKSEN and PROMOTION, but then again a bit less rockier and I have to admit that it does work quite well most of the time, because now we are able to call this a real AOR record, with a few Westcoast influences. The vocals of singer PETER LINDBERG are a pleasure to listen to, the hooks are quite beautiful and the only pity might be that only 9 songs are included. We covered HIGHER GROUND in the past a few times, but somehow I feel that ‘Gravity’ is their finest release so far, with such excellent AOR tunes like “Fate,”, “Waste of time”, “Supernatural” and the laid-back ballads “Again” and “Remember me”. This is real music and this is the AOR sound which should be promoted all over the radio. Time will tell if this will become a classic, but compared to the standard cliché tingled FRONTIERS RECORDS releases, this independent release is by far more interesting to listen to. Another spin will follow shortly I feel and fans of AOR/Westcoast need to urgently look for the new HIGHER GROUND album.
Written by Gabor
Ratings Gabor 8/10
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