GRAND ILLUSION
Grand Illusion hail from Sweden and the band proper consists of multi-instrumentalist Anders Rydholm, vocalist Peter Sundell and backing vocalist Per Svensson. For this release the main members were joined by such AOR luminaries as Steve Lukather (Toto), Jay Graydon (Airplay) and Greg Bissonette (David Lee Roth), as well as Bosnian guitarist Muris Varajic and Paul Buckmaster, who is responsible for the orchestration on this release. He has previously worked with David Bowie and Elton John and also wrote the score for the film ‘Twelve Monkeys’. Although not household names in the UK, they were nominated for five grammys in the States recently so, within music circles, they are certainly raising their profile.
This release is full to the brim with top notch AOR tracks and is characterised by a really big sound, courtesy of Rydholm’s production, some really heavy and biting guitars (somewhat surprising in a release within this genre) and some vocal histrionics which stay just this side of being a little over the top. The standout tracks are the opener ‘Gates of Fire’, which possesses a truly phenomenal sound which bursts from the speakers and a nice riff that threads its way through the cut, the title track which is pretty heavy and features some nice keys and guitar interplay, ‘Eyes of Ice’ with its epic intro and ‘Gone’ which is another pretty heavy track. However, it is a difficult task to single out individual tracks as the overall quality here is great and each song is here on merit. This is undoubtedly heavier than your average AOR release and, as a consequence, may find an audience outside the usual AOR fanbase. If you’re not a fan of AOR generally but want to ‘dip your toes into the water’ you could do far worse than to choose this album as starting point.
This release is full to the brim with top notch AOR tracks and is characterised by a really big sound, courtesy of Rydholm’s production, some really heavy and biting guitars (somewhat surprising in a release within this genre) and some vocal histrionics which stay just this side of being a little over the top. The standout tracks are the opener ‘Gates of Fire’, which possesses a truly phenomenal sound which bursts from the speakers and a nice riff that threads its way through the cut, the title track which is pretty heavy and features some nice keys and guitar interplay, ‘Eyes of Ice’ with its epic intro and ‘Gone’ which is another pretty heavy track. However, it is a difficult task to single out individual tracks as the overall quality here is great and each song is here on merit. This is undoubtedly heavier than your average AOR release and, as a consequence, may find an audience outside the usual AOR fanbase. If you’re not a fan of AOR generally but want to ‘dip your toes into the water’ you could do far worse than to choose this album as starting point.
LABEL:
FORMAT:
AOR Heaven
Album
PRINCE OF PAUPERS
Review by Dave Uphill
RUNNING TIME:
55:58
RELEASE DATE:
31st Oct 2011
TRACK LISTING
1) Gates of Fire; 2) Better Believe It
3) Prince of Paupers
4) So Faraway
5) St Teresa's Love
6) Through This War
7) Eyes of Ice
8) Gone
9) Believe in Miracles
10) On and On
11) Under the Wire
12) Winds of Change
3) Prince of Paupers
4) So Faraway
5) St Teresa's Love
6) Through This War
7) Eyes of Ice
8) Gone
9) Believe in Miracles
10) On and On
11) Under the Wire
12) Winds of Change
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
Sweden
"If you’re not a fan of AOR generally but want to ‘dip your toes into the water’ you could do far worse than to choose this album as starting point."
