Released by: AOR Heaven
Release date: October 30, 2020
https://www.facebook.com/wildnessofficial
Line-up
Erik Forsberg
Adam Holmström
Pontus Sköld
Marcus Sjösund
Erik Modin
Tracklist:
1. Call Of The Wild
2. Die Young
3. Nowhere Land
4. Cold Words
5. Renegades Of Love
6. Falling Into Pieces
7. Burning It Down
8. My Hideaway
9. Denial
10. Borderline
11. The Ultimate Demise
We are back into Swedish AOR/Melodic Hardrock Heaven again with the debut album Ultimate demise of WILDNESS. It’s incredible how many Swedish bands are out there because almost every month there are new AOR/Melodic Rock releases coming out of Sweden. WILDNESS was formed back in 2014 and they released their debut album in 2017, which is now followed up by Ultimate demise.
The band has a new lead singer because ERIK FORSBERG (ex-BLAZON STONE) replaces the previous singer Gabriel Lindmark. Erik has a great strong voice, sometimes reminding me of a bit of MICHAEL BORMANN. The music is pure 1980s, yet modern fresh-sounding Swedish/Scandi AOR/Melodic Rock with superb guitar work, cheerful keys, catchy hooks, and melodic choruses all over the place in the same way we heard it back in the day on records of acts like TALK OF THE TOWN, DALTON, DAVINCI, TREAT, EUROPE, etc. On the other hand, WILDNESS should probably better be compared to the New Wave Of Swedish AOR/Melodic Rock bands, such as H.E.A.T., ONE DESIRE, PERFECT PLAN, DREAMS OF AVALON, WORK OF ART, LAST AUTUMN’S DREAM, etc., etc.
Opener Call of the wild is a short intro to the faster uptempo melodic heavy rocker Die young, which is a very catchy tune that sounds like a cross between H.E.A.T., PRETTY MAIDS, and MAD MAX. Following songs Nowhere land and Cold worlds are pure Swedish classic upper league Melodic Rockers in the style of NATION, NARNIA, TREAT, ONE DESIRE, DALTON, and all those acts that made the Swedish country loud and proud the heaven for catchy hooks/chorus driven uptempo Melodic Rock.
The slightly faster rockier uptempo Renegades of love reminds me a bit of JADED HEART in their classic 1990s MICHAEL BORMANN period, while it also features a superb soaring guitar solo. I need to add here that the guitar work sounds fabulous on every track and the production is also top-notch, so it is an enjoyable ride through the 11 included songs. Falling into pieces is the first song to slow things down a bit, and without a doubt, this is a superb early to mid-1990s sounding high-class semi Melodic Rockballad that even recalls the classic days of FIREHOUSE and once again mid-1990s JADED HEART. As you can read, the album develops quite nicely and even steps away a bit here and there from the pure Swedish Melodic Rocksound, which is making them standout among the rest. Burning it down is a big-time anthemic midtempo melodic rocker like H.E.A.T. also creates sometimes.
Back to the classic 1980s AOR/Melodic Rocksound on My hideaway, which is a bit like WORK OF ART crossed with AVIATOR’s classic 1986 album, and this song contains a deadly catchy chorus you will be singing along for days after hearing it the first time around. Denial is another big-time uptempo anthemic melodic rocker with a huge chorus and excellent guitarwork, quite close to H.E.A.T. again, although you can also smell a bit of that classic early BON JOVI, DANGER DANGER, and TOBRUK sound. Following Borderline is a nice midtempo melodic rocker, while closing track The ultimate demise is a calmer keyboard-led AOR piece that is built around an 80s chorus and shows the incredible range of the band’s new lead singer.
A highly recommended album to anyone who likes classic big-time anthemic Melodic Rock and despite I started the review with me saying it’s a typical Swedish Melodic Rock/AOR affair, WILDNESS definitely has much more to offer and deliver a masterpiece in our genre here.
Written by: Gabor Kleinbloesem
Ratings: Gabor 9/10
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