COVERED CALL
So, who is Covered Call? In fact, what does Covered Call mean? And why does the front cover look like a dodgy cartoon of a Japanese stock-trader sweating away. This is certainly not your standard metal fare! Okay, the answers are: Covered Call is a Swedish band featuring vocalist Thomas Vikstrom of Candlemass and Therion fame, and apparently some of the other band members work in the stock trading market. Covered Call is an investment term meaning: “an options strategy whereby an investor holds a long position in an asset and writes…”, believe me the terminology went on for quite a few more lines and, no, I didn’t understand it either! What of the album and its sound then? Well, the vocals are top notch as you’d expect from the former Candlemass ‘Chapter IV’ vocalist and Therion live singer. Heartfelt and powerful. The band are pure AOR straight from the 80s but surprisingly seem to have no problem fitting in with 2009! This would never be the sort of band I would listen to, myself preferring a heavier type of metal but I must admit this is good - the songs on here have enough familiarity to be catchy immediately but show a maturity in songwriting that helps give the album a relevance. This sort of hard rock always has a simplicity and a few more absolutely shredding solos may have lifted the album to further heights taking it from the pretty good if you like this sort of thing to definitely worth checking out. Great vocals, good band BUT that cover art isn’t going to have people grabbing the album from the record shop aisles!
LABEL:
FORMAT:
Blistering Records
Album
MONEY NEVER SLEEPS
Review by Paul Sims
RUNNING TIME:
42:18
RELEASE DATE:
30th March 2009
TRACK LISTING
1) All Because Of Me
2) Til' The End
3) Shine
4) Never Again
5) Anything You Want
6) I Wanna Be Free
7) Nothing At All
8) Money Never Sleeps
9) What About Us
10) Let's Make It Real
2) Til' The End
3) Shine
4) Never Again
5) Anything You Want
6) I Wanna Be Free
7) Nothing At All
8) Money Never Sleeps
9) What About Us
10) Let's Make It Real
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
Sweden
"...the songs on here have enough familiarity to be catchy immediately but show a maturity in songwriting that helps give the album a relevance."