Rawk roundup – Anette Olzon vs. H.E.A.T. vs. Sound Of The Sirens

Rawk roundup – Anette Olzon vs. H.E.A.T. vs. Sound Of The Sirens

ANETTE OLZON
Shine
earMUSIC

Nightwish made a bad mistake when they fired Anette Olzon. Having taken on the almost impossible role of replacing Tarja, she turned out to be an inspired choice. The flipside to the Goblin Queen, her earthly appeal helped them make two of their finest albums. Of course, they’ve now went for a dull as ditchwater sub-Tarja clone, and Ms Olzon has lined up her debut solo album. And it’s good.

As you would expect, given her background, it’s certainly not Nightwish. Although there are gothic undertones, it’s more of a pop / rock album. Not a surprise, given that it was produced by Stefan Orn, who worked on the 2011 Eurovision Finnish song contest. However, for those of who loved her work with Nightwish, there is enough here to keep us happy.

She is in superb voice, and with a mainly keyboard based backing, there is a leaning towards a more balladic sound, which works really well on the best tracks like `Floating’ and `Falling’. The absolute highlight, however, is ‘Lies’, which sees her dabbling in the more symphonic sounds we know her for.

As a step into the limelight, this is more than worthwhile, and a very welcome release indeed.

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H.E.A.T.
Tearing Down The Walls
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Hurrah, a new album from H.E.A.T., and their second with “Swedish Idol” winner Erik Grönwall, following on from the excellent “Address the Nation” back in 2012.

And I’m delighted to report that little has changed in the world of H.E.A.T., as they set about their job of providing an 21st century update on my beloved world of eighties rawk. If anything, they’ve actually got a harder edge than before, but that doesn’t take away from their melodic rock sensibilities.

It’s a real treat (hah!) to hear a younger band taking on the big guns from days gone by, and matching them song for song. After all, how many more tours / albums are the likes of Journey and Foreigner going to offer up. The single ‘A Shot At Redemption’ is one of the highlights, along with the fiery ‘Inferno’, but you could drop the needle just about anywhere in their groove for a good time.

A joy to listen to, and an early contender for melodic rock album of the year.

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SOUNDS OF THE SIRENS
A Long Way To Fall
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Finally, for today, it’s some folk rock, courtesy of the newly reduced Sounds Of The Sirens. The Exeter based outfit used to be an all girl trio, but have shorn one third of their membership, leaving Hannah and Abbe to get on with making music.

I’m not sure whether it counts as an album anymore, what with “A Long Way To Fall” only clocking in at 27 minutes, but that’s more than enough time to realise that there is something very good going on here indeed. With impeccable harmonies throughout, and an excellent way with a melody, songs like ‘The Night Before’, ‘In This Time’ and ‘Up To The House’ are an absolute delight.

It’s early days yet, so not everything is out of the top drawer, but even the misses are only near misses, as they conjure up more pleasure in 27 minutes than some musicians can in 80. You see, it’s not all about dragging things out way past their breaking point. I’d be happy if more folk took a leaf out of these ladies book, and just gave us the good stuff.
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