Released by: XPRNC/Hemifran
Release Date: March 31st, 2023
Genre: Progressive Rock
Links: https://www.facebook.com/ExitStageLeftofficial/
Tracklist:
01. Piece Of Gold
02. Good People
03. End Of The Night
04. Appleberry Trees
05. Vagabond’s Respite
06. Son
07. Shine Through
08. The Poet
09. Old Man Smile
10. Champs-Élysées
When looking at the album cover, the name of the band and the title of the record, I immediately thought of acts like RUSH, ZEBRA and THE BEATLES, and upon hearing the first song Piece Of Gold I was rewarded because the Swedish band EXIT STAGE LEFT sounds indeed exactly like a mixture of those 3 legendary bands, but there’s much more to be discovered.
That album opener is uptempo melodic progressive rock with a clear 70s approach, even reminding of STYX, KANSAS, STARCASTLE and such besides RUSH and ZEBRA. Everything sounds crystal clear here, and fans of aforementioned bands should definitely look up this sensational band a.s.a.p.! Thankfully following track Good People follows the same path, and this is perhaps even better, because this is an absolutely amazing melodic progressive AOR/Pomprock classic in the making here, even reminding me of the more obscure acts of the golden late 70s/early 80s American wave (ROADMASTER, AMBROSIA, AIRRAID, SUNBLIND LION and such). This is really well done, sounding very impressive and it is quite surprising to hear actually! End Of The Night is perhaps slightly more AORish with an TOTO/WORK OF ART touch, although the proggy pomprockin keyboardsolo will once again whet the appetite for fans of bands like STYX, KANSAS, RUSH, etc. EXIT STAGE left comes out of Sweden as already mentioned, Borås to be exactly and Appleberry Trees is their debut album.
They were formed a few months before the pandemic, and their line up eventually became bassist Robin Hellsing, drummer Jimmy Svahn, keyboardplayer Daniel Lyngsaa Larsson and vocalist/guitarist Arvid Wilhelmsson. Arvid is a strong singer with a high falsetto tone in his voice in a good way, even reminding me slightly of ARNEL PINEDA of JOURNEY (!), while as mentioned the music fits the classic 70s prog/pomprock keyboard/melodies dominated era of bands like RUSH, YES, STARCASTLE, ROADMASTER and thanks to the pomprock approach overall it has somehow an American kinda feeling.
Vagabond’s Respite sums up all these influences perfectly, and this song even reminds me of KAYAK during their classic heydays of the 1970s, while there’s some classic 70s JOURNEY to be heard during the AORish Son and even straight-ahead uptempo catchy melodic rock during closing track Champs-Elysees. Guess what, there’s not a single weak moment to be found here, it’s quite diverse in the end, and all I can say is that you urgently need to check out this sensational Swedish band.
Written by: Gabor Kleinbloesem
Ratings: Gabor 8/10
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