RSS Feed


ADRENALINE RUSH
Adrenaline Rush

Frontiers (2014)
Rating: 2.5/10

I’m sorry, but when a press release for a forthcoming album feels the need to state that the band is “fronted by one of the most talented and hottest chicks in today’s hard rock scene”, I just have to hold my head in cringe-worthy shame. Surely we’ve moved on from an era when bands were just about their look? And boy, have so many failed to live up to their image.

With today’s market saturated by alleged rock ’n’ roll bands who look like they’ve been dressed by their mothers before the promotional shoot, it appears that latest Frontiers Records “sensation” Adrenaline Rush are just another flash in the proverbial pan.

In fact, these Swedish rockers just about some up all that is wrong with contemporary rock – it’s all clean-cut and polished but attempting to be down ’n’ dirty, all the while failing miserably in the vocal department and lacking weight musically. It’s the sort of Americanised plod rock that has no effect whatsoever on the ears because of its watery, stereotypical and, dare I say it, plastic façade.

There once was a time when thrash metal fans roared “Death to false metal!”, and it was this sort of commercial, pop-edged slop that they were referring to, because even the likes of glam rockers Poison seem downright heavyweight compared to this.

For those who do want to know more or for some reason get high on this sickly mess, you may be interested to know that although Adrenaline Rush does not live up to their name they do boast a decent lead guitarist in Ludvig Turner (from Stockholm hard rockers Reach), but it’s nigh on impossible for him to save the day as the band floats through a set of miserable songs.

The lead track to promote this release is ‘Change’, a sort of late 80s styled bubble-gum rocker that so would have benefitted from having a gravelly vocal attached to it. The percussion of Marcus Johansson (also from Reach) is standard but sturdy and the rhythm of Alexander Hagman’s guitar and Soufian Ma’Aoui’s (Houston) bass gives the track a bit of a kick, but as with every number on the album it’s all dragged down into a nasally inept delivery courtesy of Tåve Wanning. Wanning was previously a part of a teen techno pop duo known as Peaches, who are best known in Scandinavia for their 2001 hit single ‘Rosa Helikopter’ – and there she should have stayed.

Elsewhere, the band labours through a set of tepid numbers only bolstered (as the press release is eager to inform) by the production of Erik Mårtensson, who in the past has worked with rock giants Mötley Crüe, Warrant and contemporary sleazoids Crazy Lixx. But these qualities certainly do not rub on the music, as opener ‘Black ‘N’ Blue’ wafts in the room like a bad odour of formulaic chimes and that flat vocal delivery.

And the endless drivel just keeps on coming to the point where I actually begin to feel sorry for the rest of the band who merely exist as a vehicle for Tåve Wanning’s maladroit efforts. But if, and it’s a big if, I had to pick a track that stands out, then it would probably be ‘Generation Left Behind’ which has a decent rattle in its structure and even Wanning has an extra snarl… but it still sounds if she needs to blow her nose afterwards.

Oddly, this album could well appeal to a mass of teenagers who a) may find the vocalist attractive, and b) because this sort of tosh seems to sum up that well-polished act of false rebellion currently being rammed down our throats. However, if anyone with a strand of intelligence will swat this away like the miniscule fly that it is, but then again that’s disrespectful to the fly because to sum up, Adrenaline Rush’s debut offering is dire.

Neil Arnold

<< Back to Album & EP Reviews



Related Posts via Categories
Share