Album: WILDNESS – Avenger
Release Date: January 24th 2025
Label: Frontiers Music SRL
Review Author: Metal Mike71
This is the Swedish AOR band Wildness‘s 4th album since their debut in 2017.
If you have heard Wildness before you know that you will get an album with great choruses, thundering drums from Erik Modin and great guitarwork from Adam Holmström and Pontus Sköld. Bass player Marcus Sjösund completes the powerful rhythm section and singer Erik Forsberg blasts out great vocals with attitude and melody.
“Wings of Fire” kicks off the album and it is a great melodic rocker with a loveable 80’s feel to the sound. The production is great on this album and if you love Scandinavian AOR you will have a great listen.
“Crucified” and “Broken Heart” have been released as singles on streaming platforms during the fall of 2024 and showcases what this album is all about.
“Caught Up In The Moment” is a fantastic AOR song that has all the Wildness ingredients if you mix their past albums.
“Wasted Time” has some nice guitar parts in the solo that I love.
“Avenger”, the title song is a faster song with similarities with 80s hard rock bands such as Dokken etc.
“Poison Ivy” sounds like the best melodic rock bands from Sweden in the 80s but with a punchier production. I love it when you can hear the sticks hit the cymbal like it was live. Great song.
The ballad on the album is “I’ll Be Over You“. It has a melancholic feel to it. In the verse, it sounds a bit like Queensryche for me which is great. Cool guitar solo in this song and Erik Forsberg‘s vocals are great.
Back to a faster track in “Stand Your Ground“. Thundering drums and great guitars. This could be on an Avantasia album. Great chorus too.
“Eye Of The Storm” is yet another great mid-tempo song with a bit more keyboards in it. I can see for myself the audience clapping their hands in the breakdown section when or if they will play this song at their shows.
The last song is “Walk Through The Fire” which is an uptempo rocker with another great chorus. Great way to end the album.
This is an album for all lovers of melodic hard rock and AOR. Great production, great playing and awesome songs. This will get a lot of listens from me throughout the year.
Rating 8/10
BUY: Pre-Order Links
Check out more of my articles on CGCM Rock Radio/Website: MetalMike71