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Gothenburg’s Horisont return with album number six; ‘Sudden Death’. More high-polished 70’s inspired rock, but this time with more ELO-influences, more synths, and with the added bonus of some saxophone. Not a fan of anything Jeff Lynne related? Then chances are opening track ‘Revolution’ will pass you by. As many ELO tropes as you can shake a shitty stick at, but with some killer riffs, a lighter-than-light midsection (complete with Pete Townsend-influenced power chords) and the first hint of saxophone. Your average metalhead might not confess to digging it, but after a stein or three, this will have them bopping in the aisles in the midday sun at Wacken and Graspop.
‘Free Riding’ continues the soft rock ambience with a sweet Steely Dan-esque melodic guitar tone and a totally leftfield synth solo from mainman Axel which develops into a bonkers guitar-synth duel. ‘Pushin’ The Line’ will draw several comparisons to Dire Straits ‘Sultans Of Swing’, purely because in places the guitar tone has that same light, picking tone. But ignore this one at your peril because you will be missing out on the gonzo drumming of Pontus who plays like he has three arms. The sax sound from earlier resurfaces fleetingly on ‘Into The Night’, an uptempo rocker which at times recalls Toto purely on the strength of its driving piano track. The (Supertramp-ish) change in direction midsong comes as a surprise, and adds some depth to the song. Other surprises come via the Motown vibe on ‘Standing Here’ which is fuelled by the “hand clapping” drum sound from Pontus, and the ‘70’s proggy vibe on the native-tongue ‘Gråa Dagar’. The latter is especially memorable thanks to the far-our, floating vocals and the subtle string arrangements.
‘Sail On’ comes straight out of a ‘70’s road movie soundtrack, as do the freaky synth tones on ‘Breaking The Chain’, but only if it’s John Carpenter directing and scoring the movie. The vocals from Axel on the latter are as light and as clean as ever, but it’s the big-ass bass sound from Magnus and the twin guitar work from Charles and David that steal the show. After the ballad-esque strains of ‘Hold On’, it’s left to the eight minute instrumental jam of ‘Archaeopteryx In Flight’ to bring this sucker on home.
This is one Swedish band not going down the Led Zeppelin route (No Stairway?..Denied!), and for that reason they might not get the same exposure as many of their peers, which sucks, because this is one hell of a groovy ride.
Available May 15th on Century Media.
Review – Dave
