Released by:Frontiers Music s.r.l.
Release Date: 20 April 2018
Genre: Melodic Rock
Links:
Line Up:
Singer Kent Hilli
Rolf Nordström on guitar
P-O Sedin on bass
Fredrik Forsberg on drums
Leif Ehlin on keyboards
Tracklist:
1. Bad City Woman
2. In And Out Of Love
3. Stone Cold Lover
4. Gone Too Far
5. What Goes Around
6. Too Late
7. Can’t Turn Back
8. Never Surrender
9. 1985
10. What Can I Do
11. Heaven In Your Eyes
I’m a sucker for top-notch melodic hard rock. And when I find a band that delivers the goods and I see that MGM hasn’t shown them some love, I feel as if I need to rectify that. I did the same for last year’s fantastic AOR gem One Desire, so I guess I need to do it again this year. Somehow the band Perfect Plan fell under my radar (hell, wasn’t even on it,) until I saw some friends discuss it on Facebook. It so happened that those talking about had tastes much in line with mine, so I saw it hadn’t been reviewed so I snagged it.
As I said, the band is called Perfect Plan, and their debut is entitled All Rise, and if this album doesn’t inspire some sort of joyous movement I don’t know what will. As a child of the 80’s, where the music was the best, and I was most impressionable, I got hooked on great melodic bands like Survivor, Journey, Foreigner, and later moved towards stuff like Honeymoon Suite and Giant. All Rise sounds like they basically took all of the above and stirred it together into this fantastic album of great songs with powerful vocals, major hooks, and songs that instantly draw one in. What’s even more inspiring about this release is that it is not one of those so-called “supergroups” of major players in the AOR/Melodic Hard Rock realm. Perfect Plan is guys just coming on to the scene, and without a doubt, a debut this strong will become veritable giants in this genre. Tracks like “In and Out of Love,” “Never Surrender,” and “Too Late” are clear examples showing that not only are singer Kent Hilli, guitarist Rolf Nordström, bassist P.O. Sedin, drummer Fredrik Forsberg, and keyboards Leif Ehlin are immensely talented, but have songwriting capabilities beyond most young bands.
Some might call Perfect Plan’s debut All Rise safe, but to me, it just sounds like yet another excellent find for Frontiers Records and a brilliant album for fans of this type of sound. Its right up there with W.E.T. as far as melodic albums go for this year so far. That’s pretty major. This is going to be an album that is going to surprise a lot of people, a definite sleeper hit potential.
Written by: Chris Martin
Ratings: 10/10
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