One step away from greatness
Artiste: Work of Art
Nationality: Swedish
Album: In progress
Year: 2011
Label: Frontiers
Genre: AOR
Tracks:
The rain
Nature of the game
Once again
Never love again
Eye of the storm
Until you believe
The great fall
Call on me
Emelie
Fall down
Castaway
One step away
Chronological position: Second album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression: Man, I thought
Houston were good...!
Best track(s): Until you believe, Never love again, The rain, The great fall
Worst track(s): Castaway, One step away
Comments: Once again we return to the colder climes, and why not, as it seems that apart from being already the spiritual home of death and doom metal, Sweden is fast becoming a real mecca for AOR bands. We've already had the likes of Houston, Karmakanik, Jens Johansson and of course, one of
the biggest AOR successes to come out of Scandinavia, Europe. Now add to that Work of Art, who have only had two albums to date but are already making waves in melodic rock and AOR circles with this, their second offering. Reading up on it, I've seen many comments on various websites complaining that it isn't a patch on their debut. If that's true, all I can say is that their first album must be a monster, because this is some of the finest AOR I've heard since, er, Houston's debut, reviewed last week.
However, whereas Houston's self-titled consciously tries to bring back the spirit and feel of the eighties, the heyday of hair metal and AOR --- and succeeds beyond anyone's dreams --- Work of Art appear happy to remain rooted in the present, seeing no need to recapture past glories, especially glories not theirs. That's no slight on Houston, because as I say, what they do they do phenomenally well. But this is a whole different kettle of fish. Everything is there that you would expect from a great AOR album: hooks by the fistful, big chunky keyboard solos, screaming guitars and pitch-perfect close vocal harmonies. The running order of the tracks could have been changed slightly, as my only real niggle --- and it's a small, petty one, but then, I'm a small, petty man --- is that twice, two tracks follow each other that have similar titles, as you'll see from the above tracklisting. Slight lack of imagination there, but it probably isn't down to the band. Still, it could perhaps give the impression they're not trying, or bothered.
Nothing could be further from the truth though. From opener
The rain through tracks like
Once again, Eye of the storm and
The great fall, Work of Art come charging out of the traps, full pelt for the racetrack and they only slow down occasionally for the obligatory ballad --- and when they do by gum is it worth it!
Until you believe would have Journey mad with jealousy, though it si a little surprising to find it's the only ballad. However, the energy and enthusiasm Work of Art show should not be confused with any suggestion that they're just running off riffs and solos and belting out songs about “tonight being the night” or “girl you look so fine”. No, these are carefully considered lyrics, as you'll hear if you invest in a listen to this.
The only bad points? Well, some of the lyrics are a little twee (“I'll wait by the end of the rainbow”? Come on guys, you can do better than that!) but then you often have to expect that with AOR, don't you? Also, the last two tracks are definitely the weakest on the album, and unfortunately don't close it as powerfully as it began, or as it should be finished.
Overall impression: Do I dare say it? Yeah, I do: a real work of art!
Intention: Hah! If their debut is better than this, (which I find a little hard to believe) I'm there! And I mean now!