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Last Autumn's Dream: A Touch of Heaven
Last Autumn's Dream: A Touch of Heaven
AOR/Melodic Rock
Rating: 4.5/5.0
Escape Music
www.escape-music.com
www.myspace.com/lastautumnsdream
Review: Craig Hartranft, 01.04.2010
Finding some new words to describe essential melodic rockers Last Autumn's Dream and their latest work, A Touch of Heaven is nearly an exercise in futility, if not a nightmare for a music reviewer. Fundamentally, with their seventh studio release, 'consistency' is the one overarching word that applies to LAD. Crafting a fine melodic rock song comes as second nature to this band. Everything required is included: Mikael Erlandsson' gritty but melodious vocals and keyboards, strong ear teasing melodies, coherent lyrics with a big chorus, fiery, yet naturally simple, guitar solos, a steady rhythm section, and a bombastic, but clean, production. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is forgotten.
So what's the catch, you may ask? There is none really unless, of course, you're jaded about quality European melodic rock. If that's the case, then you'll merely consider LAD's A Touch of Heaven nothing but the same old thing. Otherwise, the final thing to do in this review is pick out the my favorite songs from the bunch. So here they are: all of them. Just kidding (but there all quite good). My favorites include: Candle in the Dark, Come Rain or Shine, Heartbreaker (great bass line), Last Mistake (Jeff Scott Soto on bv's), Jenny's Eyes, and the unexpected pop rock of See My Baby Jive. LAD also covers Cheap Trick's Surrender with uneven results, but it still sounds pretty good.
In Short
A Touch of Heaven finds Last Autumn's Dream doing what they do best, again: creating near flawless and infectious European melodic rock. Hands down, it's another hit. Get it.
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Formed 23 years ago, Finland's Excalion has had a turbulent musical career. Before releasing a trio of albums between 2005 and 2010, they had personnel changes. Currently, only the drummer and keyboard ... [ Read More ]